ZTbe  THttf\>ersfts  of  Cbtcago 

FOUNDED  BY  JOHN   D. ROCKEFELLER 


GRILLPARZER'S  ATTITUDE 
TOWARD  ROMANTICISM 


A  DISSERTATION 

SUBMITTED    TO    THE    FACULTY  OF  THE    GRADUATE    SCHOOL    OF  ARTS  AND 

LITERATURE    IN    CANDIDACY    FOR    THE    DEGREE    OF 

DOCTOR  OF  PHILOSOPHY 

(DEPARTMENT   OF   GERMANIC   LANGUAGES   AND   LITERATURES) 


BY 

EDWARD  JOHN  WILLIAMSON 


CHICAGO 

THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 

1910 


XTbe  THntt>er8ft£  of  Cbicago 

FOUNDED   BY  JOHN   D.  ROCKEFELLBR 


GRILLPARZER'S  ATTITUDE 
TOWARD  ROMANTICISM 


A  DISSERTATION 

SUBMITTED    TO   THE    FACULTY  OF  THE    GRADUATE    SCHOOL    OF  ARTS  AND 

LITERATURE    IN    CANDIDACY    FOR    THE    DEGREE    OF 

DOCTOR  OF  PHILOSOPHY 

(DEPARTMENT   OF   GERMANIC   LANGUAGES  AND   LITERATURES) 


BY 

EDWARD  JOHN  WILLIAMSON 


OF 

t/£oftw& 

CHICAGO 

THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 

1910 


Copyright  1910  By 
The  University  of  Chicago 


Published  April  1910 


Composed  and  Printed  By 

The  University  of  Chicago  Press 

Chicago,  Illinois,  U.  S.  A. 


TO  THE  MEMORY 
OF    MY    PARENTS 


211027 


PREFATORY  NOTE 

This  study  forms  Part  I  of  a  larger  work  which  will  treat  of  the 
same  subject.  Part  II  will  consist  of  a  number  of  chapters  on 
various  romantic  problems  treated  by  Grillparzer  in  his  dramas. 
One  of  these  chapters  is  now  ready  for  publication  and  the  others 
will  follow  shortly. 

The  author's  thanks  are  due  to  Professor  Schiitze  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Chicago,  at  whose  suggestion  the  work  was  undertaken,  for 
his  kind  encouragement,  and  for  the  many  helpful  criticisms  which 
he  made  from  time  to  time. 

E.  J.  Williamson 

Hobart  College 
Geneva,  N.  Y. 
March  4,  1910 


I.    LITERARY  AND  AESTHETIC  VIEWS 

Grillparzer  never  identified  himself  absolutely  with  any  particular 
school  of  poetry.  His  aesthetic  studies,  he  tells  us  plainly,  are  written 
without  any  regard  for  a  particular  system.  "Ich  nehme  mir  bei 
diesen  Anmerkungen  vor,  ohne  Rucksicht  auf  ein  System,  uber  jeden 
Gegenstand  dasjenige  niederzuschreiben,  was  mir  aus  seinem 
eigenen  Wesen  zu  fliessen  scheint.  Die  dadurch  entstehenden  Wider- 
spruche  werden  sich  am  Ende  entweder  von  selbst  heben,  oder,  indem 
sie  nicht  wegzuschaffen  sind,  mir  die  Unmoglichkeit  eines  Systems 
beweisen"  (XV,  9).1  The  point  of  view  that  all  systems  of  poetry 
are  incomplete  and  inadequate  is  constantly  reiterated  throughout 
his  works.  To  him  poetry  is  one — classic  and  romantic  are  not  sepa- 
rate divisions  which  are  at  war  with  each  other,  but  are  two  comple- 
mentary principles  which  must  be  found  united  in  all  genuine  poetry. 
"  The  discussion  with  regard  to  the  superiority  of  classic  or  romantic 
poetry,,,  he  remarks  rather  humorously,  "appears  to  me  as  if  a  host 
asked  his  guests  at  dinner  whether  they  preferred  to  eat  or  drink. 
A  sensible  person  would  of  course  answer:  Both,,  (XV,  66).  In 
another  place  he  expresses  himself  as  being  utterly  opposed  to  the 
idea  that  the  human  mind  and  the  forms  in  which  it  appears  can  be 
pigeon-holed  and  registered  like  an  insect  collection  (XVI,  31). 
From  this  point  of  view  he  attacks  the  critics  who  judge  a  work  accord- 
ing to  categories  which  they  have  previously  set  up: 

Romantisch,  klassisch  und  modem 

Scheint  schon  ein  Urteil  diesen  Herrn, 

Und  sie  ubersehn  in  stolzem  Mut 

Die  wahren  Gattungen:  schlecht  und  gut  (III,  201). 

Romantic  and  classic  are  only  means  to  the  apprehension  and  inter- 
pretation of  Nature.  If  one  wishes  to  distinguish  between  the  two, 
the  difference,  according  to  Grillparzer,  consists  in  the  fact  "that 
romantic  art  aims  at  the  effect  on  the  feelings,  regardless  as  to  how 
that  effect  may  be  gained;  the  interesting,  the  witty,  the  significant, 
yes,  even  the  ugly — all  is  welcomed,  so  long  as  the  required  effect  is 

1  References  in  the  text  are  to  Grillparzers  samtliche  Werke,  5.  Ausg.  in  20  Bden., 
herausgegeben  von  A.  Sauer  (Stuttgart,  o.  J.:  Cotta). 


2  grillparzer's  attitude  toward  romanticism 

i  produced.    The  ancient  (classic)  art,  however,  aimed  to  produce  only 

/  the  beautiful,  i.e.,  the  exaltation  of  feeling  which  arises  solely  from 

I  the  impression  of  perfection  made  on  the  senses"  (XV,  67).     Conse- 

\  quently  we  find  in  Grillparzer's  work  many  romantic  elements,  for 

to  him  the  interpretation  of  Nature — idealized  Nature — was  the  main 

thing,  and  the  reproduction  of  such  demands  much  broader  aesthetic 

principles  than  those  of  mere  classicism  (XVI,  31,  32). 

In  insisting  upon  the  ati&iess^gijpQetry,  Grillparzer's  view  was 
quite  in  accord  with  the  view  held  by  the  romanticists  and  expressed 
by  Friedrich  Schlegel.  In  the  Gesprdch  iiber  die  Poesie  Andrea  is 
made  to  say: 

"Es  freut  mich  dass  in  dem  mitgeteilten  Versuch  endlich  das  zur 
Sprache  gekommen  ist,  was  mir  gerade  die  hochste  aller  Fragen  iiber 
die  Kunst  der  Poesie  zu  sein  scheint.  Namlich  die  von  der  Vereini- 
gung  des  Antiken  und  des  Modernen;  unter  welchen  Bedingungen 
sie  moglich,  in  wie  fern  sie  rathsam  sei."  To  this  Ludoviko  replies: 
"Ich  wurde  gegen  die  Einschrankung  protestiren,  und  fur  die  unbe- 
dingte  Vereinigung  stimmen.  Der  Geist  der  Poesie  ist  nur  einer 
und  uberall  derselbe."1  This  remark  is  taken  from  a  discussion 
of  Goethe's  Wilhelm  Meister  which,  according  to  Schlegel,  unites 
in  a  wonderful  degree  the  individuality  of  modern  poetry  and  the 
classic  spirit  of  the  ancients.  While  Grillparzer  could  not  accept 
all  the  statements  of  SchlegeFs  famous  definition  contained  in  the 
1 1 6th  A thendums fragment,  there  are  at  least  two  statements  contained 
in  that  definition  of  poetry  which  would  meet  with  his  entire  approval, 
viz.:  "Sie  umfasst  alles,  was  nur  poetisch  ist,"  and  "Sie  kann  durch 
keine  Theorie  erschopft  werden."  2 

Quite  in  accord  with  his  assertion  that  he  does  not  intend  to  bind 
himself  to  the  dogmas  of  any  school  is  Grillparzer's  attitude  toward 
both  classicism  and  romanticism.  While  he  condemns  the  extrava- 
gances of  the  romanticists,  he  is  at  the  same  time  no  blind  worshiper 
of  things  classic.  Indeed  he  raises  a  protesting  voice  against  those 
who  laud  the  classics  indiscriminately.3     "Diejenigen  die  sich  die 

1  Friedrich  Schlegels  "  Jugendschriften"  (1 794-1802)  herausgegeben  von  J.  Minor 
(Wien,  1882),  II,  382. 

2  Ibid.,  220,  221. 

3  Cf.  A.  W.  Schlegel,  Vorlesungen  iiber  dramatische  Kunst  und  Literatur,  besorgt 
von  Eduard  Booking,  3.  Aufl.  (Leipzig,  1846),  I,  7. 


LITERARY   AND   AESTHETIC  VIEWS  3 

Miihe  genommen  haben,  die  Sprachen  der  Alten  zu  lernen  und  ihre 
Werke  zu  studieren,  suchen  sich  fur  ihre  Anstrengungen  gewohnlich 
dadurch  zu  entschadigen,  dass  sie  ewig  von  ungeheueren  Reichtumern, 
von  unermesslichen  Schatzen  sprechen,  die  da  verborgen  lagen  und 
die  sie  gefunden;  ja  jeder  Kiesel,  der  in  der  alten  Welt,  so  gut  als 
in  der  neuen,  am  Wege  liegt  ist  ihnen  ein  Edelstein"  (XVI,  51). 
With  all  reverence  for  the  latter,  he  informs  us  that  he  proposes  to 
examine  what  the  idolizers  of  the  classics  have  to  say.  The  dialogue 
in  the  dramas  of  Aeschylus  he  considers  to  be  unnecessarily  wordy. 
"In  den  Wechselreden  brauchen  die  Unterredenden  die  langste  Zeit 
um  sich  iiber  die  einfachsten  Verhaltnisse  zu  verstandigen,  und  was 
der  Zuseher  bei  der  ersten  Antwort  begriffen  hat,  wird  oft  durch  zehn 

Verse  durchgefragt,  bis  die  Redenden  ins  Klare  kommen 

Spater  beim  Euripides,  ja  schon  beim  Sophokles  ist  es  jene  Red- 
seligkeit,  die  den  Athenern  aus  der  Gewohnheit  an  offentlichen  Reden 
und  Gerichtsverhandlungen  zum  eigentlichen  Labsal  geworden  ist 
Solche  Geschwatzigkeit  im  guten  Sinne  kommt  selbst  in  den  Dia- 
logen  des  Plato  nicht  selten  vor"  (XVI,  58;  cf.  also  XVI,  85,  86). 
He  also  calls  attention  to  the  awkwardness  and  faultiness  of  composi- 
tion in  Euripides'  plays,  a  feature  to  which  Goethe1  had  already 
referred  (XVI,  78).  Even  here,  however,  Grillparzer  finds  romantic 
elements.  "Die  Entwicklungsscene  konnte  Calderon  geschrieben 
haben,  so  durch  und  durch  romantisch  ist  sie"  (XVI,  73).  Oyer 
thirty  years  later  (1853)  he  wrote  the  lines: 

Romantisch  waren  schon  die  Alten, 

Sahn  lib' rail  die  Gotter,  des  Schicksals  Walten, 


Romantik  weicht  von  der  Dichtkunst  nie, 

Sie  ist  ihre  Mutter:  die  Phantasie  (III,  185,  186). 

Much  sharper  is  Grillparzer's  criticism  of  the  Romantic  school 
in  Germany.    This  was  due  partly,  as  Ehrhard2  has  pointed  out,  to 

1  Goethe  an  Zelter,  Nov.  23,  1831:  "Auf  den  griechischen  Lokalitaten  und  auf 
deren  uraltes  mythologischen  Legendenmasse  schifft  und  schwimmt  er,  wie  eine  Stuck- 
kugel  auf  einer  Quecksilbersee,  und  kann  nicht  untertauchen,  wenn  er  auch  wollte." 

3  Auguste  Ehrhard,  Le  thidtre  en  Autriche,  Franz  Grillparzer  (Paris,  1900),  101; 
cf.  also  A.  Farinelli,  Grillparzer  und  Lope  de  Vega  (Berlin,  1894).  277,  278;  R.  Batka, 
"Grillparzer  und  der  Kampf  gegen  die  deutsche  Oper  in  Wien,"  Grillparzer  Jahrbuch, 
IV. 


his  conservative  training  which  led  him  to  cling  to  the  classic  forms 
while  striving  to  combine  with  them  the  life  and  warmth  which  he 
found  in  the  romantic  poetry  of  Shakspere  and  Lope  de  Vega;  partly 
also  to  the  influence  of  his  friend  and  critic,  Joseph  Schreyvogel.  It 
was  the  latter,  he  states  in  the  poem,  "An  einen  Freund"  (I,  142), 
who  first  gave  his  work  a  purpose.  In  the  year  1807  Schreyvogel 
began  to  publish  the  Sonntagsblatt,  a  critical  journal  which  stood  for 
the  ideals  of  classicism  and  opposed  the  extravagances  of  the  new 
Romantic  school.  Grillparzer  acknowledges  in  this  autobiography 
(XIX,  61)  his  great  respect  for  Schreyvogel  as  a  critic  and  confesses 
that  the  Sonntagsblatt  contributed  much  to  protect  him  from  the  follies 
of  romanticism.  In  the  matter  of  form  and  technique  he  and  Schrey- 
vogel shared  the  same  views  (XVIII,  130).  The  how,  he  con- 
siders, is  just  as  indispensable  in  art  as  the  what  (XVI,  38).  "Nicht 
der  Gedanke  macht  das  Kunstwerk,  sondern  die  Darstellung  des 
Gedankens"  (XV,  26). J  "Die  vollendete  Form  ist  es,  wodurch  die 
Poesie  ins  Leben  tritt,  ins  aussere  Leben.  Die  Wahrheit  der  Emp- 
findung  gibt  nur  das  Innere;  es  ist  aber  Aufgabe  aller  Kunst,  ein 
Inneres  durch  ein  Aeusseres  darzustellen"  (XV,  65).  Or  again: 
"Allerdings  ist  es  falsch,  dass  die  Form  das  Hochste  in  der  Kunst 
sei,  aber  das  Hochste  ist  in  der  Kunst  nur  insofern  etwas,  als  es  in 
der  Form  erscheint"  (XV,  33). 

Thus  it  was  that  Grillparzer,  while  charmed  by  the  life  and  truth 
displayed  in  the  works  of  Shakspere  and  Lope  de  Vega,  accepted 
as  models  in  form  the  French  classicists  of  the  seventeenth  century.2 
He  considers  Racine  to  be  "  ein  so  grosser  Dichter  als  je  einer  gelebt 
hat"  (XVI,  123),  and  deplores  the  influence  of  the  Shaksperean  form 
on  Schiller's  Wallenstein,  which,  in  his  opinion,  had  it  been  compressed 
into  five  acts  would  have  been  one  of  the  greatest  works  in  the  world's 
literature  (XIII,  172).  From  the  same  point  of  view  he  criticizes 
Fouque's  work  (XVIII,  87),  and  is  opposed  to  those  who,  following 
Friedrich  Schlegel's  assertion  "dass  die  Willkiir  des  Dichters  kein 

1  Cf.  also  Grillparzer s  satntliche  Werke,  XV,  27;  XVIII,  74;  Brief eund  Tagebucher, 
herausgegeben  von  Glossy  und  Sauer  (Stuttgart:  Cotta,  1903),  I,  290,  295. 

2  A.  Foglar,  Grillparzer s  Ansichten  iiber  Liter atur,  Biihne  und  Leben,  2.  Aufl. 
(Stuttgart,  1891),  9;  cf.  also  R.  Mahrenholtz,  "Franz  Grillparzer  iiber  d.  franzos. 
Literatur,"  Zts.  f.  franzos.  Sprache  und  Lit.,  XII  (1890),  291-301. 


LITERARY  AND  AESTHETIC  VIEWS  5 

Gesetz  uber  sie  leide"1  demand  the  abolition  of  all  rules  (XV,  39,  40)^ 
In  his  own  works  Grillparzer  ever  strove  to  combine  the  life  and  truth  j 
of  romantic  poetry  with  perfection  of  form.  "  Ich  weiss,  dass  ich ' 
es  nie  erreichen  werde,  nach  was  ich  strebe  in  der  drama tischen  Poesie: 
das  Leben  und  die  Form  so  zu  vereinigen,  dass  beiden  ihr  voiles  Recht 
geschieht.  Man  wird  es  vielleicht  nicht  einmal  ahnen,  dass  ich  es 
gewollt,  und  doch  kann  ich  nicht  anders"  (XVIII,  160).  Theoreti- 
cally at  least  he  was  a  firm  believer  in  the  three  unities  of  the  French 
classic  drama2  which  had  been  condemned  by  Lessing  and  the  roman- 
ticists. His  statements  on  this  subject,  indeed,  seem  to  be,  as  Strich3 
has  pointed  out,  a  direct  criticism  of  A.  W.  SchlegeFs  point  of  view. 
"Man  thut  zwar  allerdings gut,"  writes  Grillparzer,  "den  sogenannten 
Einheiten  der  Zeit  und  des  Ortes  keine  wesentlichen  Schonheiten 
aufzuopfern:  wo  man  ihnen  aber  treu  bleiben  kann,  soil  man  es  ja 
nicht  versaumen,  es  gibt  der  Handlung  eine  vorziigliche  Stetigkeit 
und  befordert  das  eigentliche  Dramatische  der  Wirkung  ungemein" 
(XII,  66) .  Although  Grillparzer  did  not  succeed  as  a  rule  in  observ- 
ing the  unities  in  his  dramas,  he  was  firmly  convinced  of  the  advisa- 
bility of  doing  so  wherever  it  was  practicable. 

Believing  that  the  form  was  a  very  essential  feature  of  arXJLwas 
not  to  be  wondered  at  that  the  Austrian  dramatist  should  express 
discontent  at  the  lack  of  formative  power  exhibited  in  the  works  of 
the  romanticists.  Tieck,  Arnim,  and  Brentano  wrote  merely  book- 
dramas  which  were  diametrically  the  opposite  of  his  own  dramas. 
In  the  year  181 9  he  wrote,  referring  to  the  Romantic  school  whose 
influence  was  at  that  time  dominant  in  Germany:  "Die  Tongeber 
unter  uns  sind,  was  Jean  Paul  weibliche  Genies  nennt.  Da  fehlt  es 
weder  an  Empfanglichkeit  noch  Liebe  fur  das  Schone,  aber  an  Kraft 

es  zu  gestalten  und  ausser  sich  hinzustellen Alle  grossen  Meis- 

ter  aller  Zeiten  von  Shakespeare  und  Milton  bis  Goethe  waren  mehr 
oder  weniger  plastisch Die  Formlosigkeit,  welche  ein  Haupt- 

1  Athendumsjragment  116;  cf.  J.  Minor,  op.  cit.,  II,  220. 

*  E.  Reich,  Grillparzer s  Kunst philosophic  (Wien,  1890),  98  f.;  M.  Koch, 
Franz  Grillparzer:  Eine  Charakteristik  (Frankfurt  a.  M.,  1891),  26;  Grillparzers 
samtliche  Werke,  XVII,  196,  213. 

3  Franz  Grillparzers  Aesthetik,  Forschungen  zur  neueren  Literaturgeschichte, 
herausgegeben  von  Dr.  Franz  Muncker  (Berlin,  1905),  113  f. 


6  grillparzer' s  attitude  toward  romanticism 

ingredienz  der  sogenannten  Romantik  ist,  war  von  jeher  ein  Zeichen 
eines  schwachen,  krankelnden  Geistes,  der  sich  selbst  und  seinen 
Stoff  zu  beherrschen  nicht  vermag"  (XVI,  30;  cf.  also  XVI,  35). 
For  this  reason  he  defends  Goethe  who  had  been  criticized  for  his 
lack  of  sympathetic  appreciation  of  the  works  of  the  romanticists: 
"  Es  ist  an  Goethe  hart  getadelt  worden,  dass  er  sich  der  sogenannten 
romantischen  Schule,  ja  den  besseren  Hervorbringungen  derselben, 
den  Genoveven  und  Oktavianen  so  hartnackig  widersetzte;  er  wusste 
aber  wohin  derlei  fiihrt,  er  wusste,  dass  eine  Form,  die  sich  vom 
Stoffe  beherrschen  lasst,  statt  ihn  zu  beherrschen,  den  Keim  der 
Fratze  notwendig  in  sich  tragt"  (XVIII,  103).  In  his  criticism  of 
Tomantic  writers  Tieck  especially  receives  censure.  Tieck  is  no  poet, 
but  a  dilettante  because  he  is  incapable  of  giving  finished  form  to  his 
poetic  ideas  (XVIII,  82) .  "  Ein  Ganzes  zu  machen  liegt  aus  der  Mog- 
lichkeit  dieses  Menschen"  (XVIII,  84;  cf.  also  XV,  35-37).  It  is 
that  incapacity  to  give  concrete  form  to  thoughts  and  ideas,  so  com- 
mon in  works  like  Tieck's  Zerbino,  that  Grillparzer  takes  exception 
to  in  the  works  of  the  romanticists.  "Allerdings  muss  jedem  Gedicht, 
wie  jedem  menschlichen  Bestreben,  eine  Intention,  ein  Gedanke 
oder,  in  hochster  Bezeichnung  gefasst,  eine  Idee  zum  Grunde  liegen, 
andererseits  aber  soil  das  Gedicht  ein  lebendiges  sein  und  alles  Leben- 
dig-Wirkliche  ist  ein  Konkretum,  der  Gedanke  aber  oder  die  Idee 
ist  und  bleibt  ein  Abstraktes"  (XVIII,  140).  The  works  of  great 
poets  like  Homer  and  Ariosto  contain  thoughts  in  abundance,  but 

•  thoughts  which  are  rounded  out  into  a  perfect  concrete  whole.  Some 
of  the  very  greatest  poets,  it  is  true,  have  been  successful  in  making 
the  idea  the  main  thing  in  the  action.  Not  so  the  romanticists,  how- 
lever,  whom  Grillparzer  describes  as  poetische  Stumper  who  seize  upon 
-gigantic  ideas  to  which  they  are  unable  to  give  artistic  expression, 

'because  they  lack  that  which  every  true  artist  should  possess:  "Dar- 
stellung,  Formgebung,  Belebung"  (XVIII,  141;  cf.  also  XV,  47, 
63,  80). 

Closely  related  to  and  often  the  cause  of  this  lack  of  form  exhibited 
by  the  romanticists  was  the  absolute  predominance  of  fancy  and  feeling 
in  their  work.  Romanticism  on  its  one  side  was  a  revolt  against  the 
all- too-sober  and  unpoetic  age  of  enlightenment  (Aufkldrung)  which 
tested  all  things  by  an  appeal  to  the  understanding  (Ver  stand),  setting 


LITERARY  AND  AESTHETIC   VIEWS  7 

aside  imagination  and  feeling  as  profitless.     The  romanticists  went 
to  the  other  extreme  and  made  feeling  their  final  criterion  in  questions 
of  poetry.     Grillparzer  was  opposed  to  the  unbridled  sway  of  feeling  I 
and  fancy  on  the  ground  that  it  detracted  from  the  objectivity  of  poetry  J 
and  tended  to  make  it  abstract  and  formless.     "Die  deutsche  Phan- 
tasie,"  he  states,  "kdnnte  man  beschuldigen,  gar  zu  gern  ins  Weite 
zu  gehen  und  dadurch  unbildlich  zu  werden.    Je  hoher  diese  Kraft 
sich  versteigt,  um  so  nebelhafter  werden  ihre  Gebilde,  bis  sie  endlich 
zu  blossen  Schematen  einschwinden,  die  den  Gedanken  wohl  unter- 
stutzend  begleiten,  aber  nicht  mehr  versinnlichen,  nicht  darstellen. 
Der  Wert  der  Phantasie  f  ur  die  Kunst  liegt  in  ihrer  Begrenzung,  welche 
die  Gestalt  ist"  (XV,  76,  77;  cf.  also  XV,  64).     In  thus  limiting  the\ 
role  of  the  imagination  in  art  Grillparzer  was  following  the  teaching    \ 
of  Kant.1     Understanding  and  imagination  must  go  hand  in  hand     1 
(XV,  10 ;  III,  85) .   At  the  same  time,  however,  he  recognized  that  with-    / 
out  imagination  there  could  be  no  poetry.     "  Der  Verstand  muss  die 
Wirksamkeit  der  Phantasie  zwar  allerdings  formell  leiten,  wie  es  denn 
der  formale  Leiter  aller  unserer  innern  Vermogen  ist;    hinsichtiich 
des  eigentlichen  Zweckes  der  Kunst  aber  kann  er  uns  nicht  helfen, 
da  sie  nicht  auf  formale  Moglichkeit,  sondern  auf  ideale  Wirklichkeit 
ausgeht  und  als  hochstes  Prinzip  ihrer  Entscheidungen  ein  dunkles 
Gefuhl  des  Schonen  anzunehmen  genotigt  ist."  (XV,  57).     Feeling 
was  for  him,  as  for  the  romanticists,  the  main  essential  in  poetry,  but    ) 
it  must  be  in  harmony  with  all  the  other  elements  necessary  to  arty 
"  Verstand,  Phantasie,  Gefuhl  und  Sinnlichkeit  verlangen  daher  jedes 
ihre  Wahrheit  in  der  Kunst,  von  denen  zugleich  aber  jede  einzelne 
bedingt  und  beschrankt  wird  durch  die  Moglichkeit  der  andern, 
eben  weil  sie  zu  einem  Eindrucke  zusammenfliessen  sollen"  (XV,  2o)\ 
Nor  could  Grillparzer  agree  with  the  theory  of  the  romanticists  \ 
that  there  should  be  no  definite  boundary  lines  drawn  between  the 
different  arts.     In  a  contribution  to  the  Athenaum  entitled  "Die 
Gemalde"  August  Wilhelm  Schlegel  had  stated:    "Und  so  sollte 
man  die  Kunste  einander  wieder  nahern  und  Uebergange  aus  einer 
in  die  andere  suchen.    Bildsaulen  beleben  sich  vielleicht  zu  Gemalden, 
Gemalde  werden  zu  Gedichten,  Gedichte  zu  Musik."*    The  inter- 

1  Cf.  Kritik  der  Urtheilskraft  (Reclam  Leipzig  o.  J.),  181  f. 
3  Athenaeum  (Berlin,  1798-1800),  3  Bde. 


8  grillparzer's  attitude  toward  romanticism 

mingling  of  music  and  poetry  was  especially  characteristic  of  romantic 
books.  Such  is  the  case,  for  example,  in  Tieck's  Liebesgeschichte  der 
schonen  Magelone,  in  Zerbino,  and  in  many  of  his  lyrics. '  In  the  over- 
ture to  the  comedy,  Die  verkehrte  Welt,  in  which  all  the  conventions  of 
poetic  form  are  broken  through  and  which  is  written  in  the  style  of  an 
orchestral  symphony,  the  first  violin  repudiates  the  idea  that  it  is  not 
permissible  and  possible  to  think  in  tones  and  to  make  music  in  words 
and  thoughts.2  Novalis,  too,  was  of  the  opinion  that  language  should 
become  song,  that  poetry  should  pass  over  into  music.  In  his  Frag- 
mente  iiber  Aesthetisches  he  writes:  "  Es  lassen  sich  Erzahlungen  ohne 
Zusammenhang,  jedoch  mit  Association,  wie  Traume,  denken; 
Gedichte,  die  bios  wohlklingend  und  voll  schoner  Worte  sind,  aber 
auch  ohne  alien  Sinn  und  Zusammenhang,  hochstens  einzelne 
Strophen  verstandlich,  wie  Bruchstiicke  aus  den  verschiedenartigsten 
Dingen.  Diese  wahre  Poesie  kann  hochstens  einen  allegorischen 
Sinn  im  Grossen  und  eine  indireckte  Wirkung  wie  Musik  haben."3 
Or  again:  "  Wenn  man  manche  Gedichte  in  Musik  setzt,  warum 
setzt  man  sie  nicht  in  Poesie?"4  Plastic,  music,  and  poetry  were 
for  him  inseparable  elements  found  united  in  every  true  work  of  art.5 

Grillparzer's  sense  for  well-defined  form  made  him  condemn 
these  romantic  theories  which  led  to  the  creation  of  that  poetry 
with  undecided,  vapory  outlines,  found  so  commonly  in  Tieck's  work. 
Speaking  of  music,  he  states:  "Der  oft  gebrauchte  Satz:  die  Musik 
ist  eine  Poesie  in  Tonen,  ist  eben  so  wenig  wahr,  als  der  entgegen- 
gesetzte  sein  wiirde:  Die  Poesie  ist  eine  Musik  in  Worten.  Der 
Unterschied  dieser  beiden  Kunste  liegt  nicht  bios  in  ihren  Mitteln; 
er  liegt  in  den  ersten  Grunden  ihres  Wesens"  (XV,  114;  cf.  also  XV, 
42,  43).  In  the  same  year  (1822)  he  wrote:  "Ich  mochte  ein  Gegen- 
stiick  zu  Lessings  Laokoon:  tiber  die  Grenzen  der  Musik  und  Poesie 
schreiben"  (XV,  114). 

Friedrich  Schlegel  had  stated  in  his  famous  definition  (Athendums- 

1  Cf.  G.  Brandes,  Die  romantische  Schule  in  Deutschland,  125  f.;  Die  Haupt- 
strdmungenderLiteraturdesiQ.Jahrhunderts(Chax\ottenb\irg:  Barsdorf,  1900),  II. 

2  G.  Reimer,  Tiecks  Schriften  (Berlin,  1826-46),  20  Bde. 

3  Sdmtliche  Werke,  herausgegeben  von  Carl  Meissner  (Florenz  und  Leipzig,  1898), 
HI,  37- 

4  Ibid.,  31.  5  Ibid.,  32. 


LITERARY   AND   AESTHETIC  VIEWS  < 

fragment  116)  that  romantic  poetry  was  a  progressive  Universal-  \ 
poesie  whose  destiny  it  was  to  unite  the  separate  forms  of  poetry  and 
to  bring  them  into  touch  with  philosophy  and  rhetoric.  This  inter- 
mingling of  poetic  and  prose  forms,  of  epic,  lyric,  and  dramatic  ele- 
ments1 such  as  is  found  in  Shakspere's  Pericles  or  Tieck's  Genoveva 
and  Kaiser  Oktavian  was  far  from  Grillparzer's  ideal.  He  did  not 
approve  of  the  intermingling  of  different  forms  in  a  work  of  art: 
"  Weil  jede  ihren  eigenen  Standpunkt  der  Anschauung,  einen  anderen 
Grad  der  Verkorperung  mit  sich  fuhrt  und  erfordert,  welche,  gemischt, 
sich  storen  und  aufheben:  Lyrik,  Epos,  Drama;  Aussicht,  Umsicht, 
Ansicht"  (XV,  68) .  The  songs  inserted  into  Tieck's  Zerbino  he  desig- 
nates with  the  words,  "Geklingel  und  Gewasch"  (XVIII,  82).  Also 
the  introduction  of  loosely  connected  Novellen  by  Cervantes  into  his 
novel,  Don  Quixote,  a  procedure  which  Tieck  as  a  romanticist  heartily 
approved  of,  was,  as  he  points  out,  considered  by  the  author  himself 
to  be  inartistic  (XVII,  246) .  He  was  ever  an  enemy  of  prosy  poetry 
and  of  poetic  prose.  Chateaubriand's  Les  Martyrs  and  Lamartine's 
Jocelyn  found  no  favor  in  his  eyes:  "Derlei  Mischgattungen  aber 
gefallen — ausser  denen,  die  sich  eben  damit  amusieren  wollen — 
vor  allem  jenen  Halbkopfen,  die  wahr  und  falsch,  Freisinn  und 
Beschranktheit,  Vernlinftiges  und  Traditionelles  gem  in  einen  Topf 
zusammenmischen  und,  unfahig,  irgend  etwas  rein  aufzufassen,  alles 
zu  haben  glauben,  wenn  sie  aus  allem  ein  Nichts  zusammenbrauen" 
(XVIII,  140).  v 

Even  more  decided  was  Grillparzer's  aversion  to  the  romantic  J 
practice  of  confounding  poetry  and  philosophy.  "Die  Poesie  mit 
der  Philosophie  und  Rhetorik  in  Beruhrung  zu  setzen,"  was,  accord- 
ing to  Friedrich  Schlegel,  one  of  the  chief  aims  of  romantic  poetry 
(A thenaums fragment  116).  "Poesie  und  Philosophie  sollen  vereinigt 
werden"  (Lyceums fragment  115).  This  union  Schlegel  finds  in 
Novalis:  "Nicht  auf  der  Grenze  schwebst  du,  sondern  in  deinem 
Geiste  haben  sich  Poesie  und  Philosophie  innig  durchdrungen."2 
Novalis  dwells  constantly  on  the  inseparableness  of  poetry  and  phi- 

1  Cf.  Novalis:  "Sind  Epos,  Lyra  und  Drama  etwa  nur  die  drei  Elemente  jedes 
Gedichts  und  nur  das  vorziiglich  Epos,  wo  das  Epos  vorzuglich  heraus  tritt,  und  so 
fort?"  (Samtliche  Werke,  III,  31). 

9  Minor,  Fr.  Schlegels  Jugendschrijten,  II,  307. 


io  grillparzer' s  attitude  toward  romanticism 

losophy.  The  poet  who  is  not  at  the  same  time  a  philosopher  is  for  him 
unthinkable.  "Die  Trennung  von  Philosoph  und  Dichter  ist  nur 
scheinbar  und  zum  Nachtheil  beider.  Es  ist  ein  Zeichen  einer  Krank- 
heit  und  krankhaften  Constitution."1  "Die  Poesie,"  he  states, 
"ist  der  Held  der  Philosophic.  Die  Philosophie  erhebt  die  Poesie 
zum  Grundsatz;  sie  lehrt  uns  den  Werth  der  Poesie  kennen.  Phi- 
losophie ist  die  Theorie  der  Poesie;  sie  zeigt  uns,  was  die  Poesie  sei; 
dass  sie  Eins  und  Alles  sei."2 

Grillparzer,  on  the  other  hand,  was  quite  opposed  to  the  introduc- 
tion of  philosophical  ideas  into  poetry.  With  all  their  philosophical 
depth  the  Schlegels,  he  states,  can  never  become  poets  (XV,  36). 
"Die  Wissenschaft  hat  es  mit  Begriffen  zu  thun,  die  Poesie  mit 

Bildern Die  Wissenschaft  sucht  den  denkbar  letzten  Grund 

auf,  die  Poesie  den  letzten  sinnlich  erkennbaren,  bildlich  darstell- 
baren,  u.s.w."  (XV,  98,  99).  The  predominance  of  philosophic 
ideas  meant  for  him  the  death  of  poetry  (XVIII,  101 ;  cf.  also  XV,  80). 
Tit  was  for  this  reason  that  he  found  most  pleasure  in  the  works  of  the 
glassies.  "  Die  neuern  Dichter,  so  vortrefflich  sie  sein  mogen,  hatten 
mir  immer  so  viel  Beimischung  von  Prosa,  so  viel  Lehr-  und  Reflex- 
ionsmassiges,  dass  ich  eigentliche  Erquickung  nur  in  der  alten  Poesie 
fand,  wo  die  Gestalt  noch  der  Gedanke  und  die  Ueberzeugung  der 
Beweis  ist"  (XVIII,  161).  His  aversion  to  philosophic  ideas  he  states 
in  no  uncertain  terms.  "Kein  Dichter  in  der  Welt  ist  wohl  je  bei 
Schopfung  eines  Meisterwerkes  von  einer  allgemeinen  Idee  aus- 
gegangen.  Das  kommt  von  der  beliebten  Einmischung  der  Phi- 
losophie in  die  Kunst Weh  dem  Menschen,  der  auf  solches 

Generalisieren  verfallt!  Als  Philosoph  mag  er  vielleicht  etwas 
leisten,  zum  Dichter  ist  er  verdorben  ewiglich!"  (XVI,  55,  56;  cf. 
also  XV,  64).  This  statement,  made  in  1816,  Grillparzer  modified 
somewhat  after  the  year  1834  (cf.  XV,  102)  in  accordance  with  Kant's 
conception  that  the  aesthetic  idea  is  the  sense-embodiment  of  the 
philosophic  idea,3  and  in  an  utterance  from  the  year  1843  he  states: 
"  Allerdings  muss  jedem  Gedicht,  wie  jedem  menschlichen  Bestreben, 
eine  Intention,  ein  Gedanke  oder,  in  hochster  Bezeichnung  gefasst, 
eine  Idee  zum  Grunde  liegen,  andererseits  aber  soil  das  Gedicht  ein 

»  Op.  cit.,  Ill,  29.  2  Ibid.,  Ill,  29. 

3  Cf.  Strich,  op.  cit.,  65  f. 


LITERARY  AND' AESTHETIC  VIEWS  II 

lebendiges  sein  und  alles  Lebendig-Wirkliche  ist  ein  Konkretum,  der 
Gedanke  aber  oder  die  Idee  ist  und  bleibt  ein  Abstraktes"  (XVIII, 
140;  cf.  also  XV,  62).  Here  too,  however,  he  maintains  that  poetry 
must  be  concrete  and  plastic  and  opposes  the  abstract  ideas  which 
the  romanticists  were  wont  to  incorporate  in  their  works.  Roman- 
ticism, which  in  1835  he  had  characterized  as  "die  faselnd-mittel- 
alterliche,  selbst-tauschend-religiose,  gestaltlos-nebelnde,  Tieckisch- 
und  Menzlisch-unfahige  Periode"  (XVIII,  101),  he  still  looks  back 
upon  in  1844  as  "  eine  erbarmliche  Zeit."1 

Grillparzer's  opposition  to  the  novel  and  the  folk-song,  forms  of\ 
composition  which  enjoyed  special  favor  among  the  romanticists,     j 
may  also  be  traced  largely  to  his  love  for  artistic  form  in  poetry.   / 
The  popularity  of  the  novel  among  romantic  writers  was  largely  due 
to  the  fact  that  it  combined  all  the  elements  of  poetry — epic,  lyric,  — 
and  dramatic.     In  the  Brief  iiber  den  Roman  Friedrich  Schlegel 
states :  "  Es  muss  Ihnen  nach  meiner  Ansicht  einleuchtend  sein,  dass 
und  warum  ich  fodre,  alle  Poesie  solle  romantisch  sein;  den  Roman 

aber,  insofern  er  eine  besondere  Gattung  sein  will,  verabscheue 

Ja  ich  kann  mir  einen  Roman  kaum  anders  denken  als  gemischt  aus 
Erzahlung,  Gesang  und  andern  Formen."2  This  mixed  nature  01s* 
the  novel  was,  as  has  been  pointed  out,  enough  in  itself  to  condemn 
it  in  Grillparzer's  eyes  as  a  form  of  art.  As  a  matter  of  fact  he  con-  ' 
sidered  the  novel  to  be  a  genre  midway  between  prose  and  poetry, 
and  therefore  as  not  belonging  to  the  highest  kind  of  art.  "Es 
besteht  namlich  die  Poesie  aus  zwei  Theilen:  Poesie  der  Auffas- 
sung  und  Poesie  der  Darstellung;  der  Roman  ist  deshalb  auch  nur 
hochstens  halbe  Poesie"  (XV,  63).  In  conversation  with  Folgar3  he 
expressed  himself  even  more  strongly  on  this  subject:  " Mich  schauert 
immer,"  he  says,  "wenn  ich  daran  denke,  dass  die  Italiener  den 
Roman  bei  sich  einfuhren.  Durch  zwei  Jahrhunderte  behalfen  sie 
sich,  freilich  auf  eine  erbarmliche  Art,  mit  ihren  Sonetten;  aber  es 
war  doch  Poesie.  Der  Roman  ist  Prosa."  Sir  Walter  Scott's 
achievements  in  epic,  lyric,  and  dramatic  poetry  he  considered  to  be 

1  A.  Foglar,  Grillparzers  AnsichUn  iiber  Literatur,  Buhne  und  Leben  (Stuttgart, 
1891),  33- 

3  J.  Minor,  op.  cit.,  II,  373. 
3  A.  Foglar,  op.  cit.,  31. 


12  grillparzer's  attitude  toward  romanticism 

insignificant:  "Er  ist  auf  die  Erzahlung  beschrankt;  braucht  es 
mehr,  um  ihn  von  jeder  eigentlich  hdhern  Rangstufe  auszuschlies- 
sen  ?"  (XVI,  190).  The  Novelle,  a  form  which  was  very  popular  with 
Tieck  and  the  other  romanticists,  was  likewise  condemned  by  him: 
"Novellen ! — Wer  schreibt  sie  nicht  ?  Hat  nicht  langst  das  poetische 
Unvermogen  des  neuern  Deutschlands  sich  auf  dieses  bequeme 
Faulbette  breit  hingestreckt  ?  "  (XVIII,  127;  cf.  also  XVII,  245). 
Still  sharper  is  Grillparzer's  denunciation  of  the  folk-song1  and 
Middle  High  German  poetry.  The  formlessness  and  the  lack  of 
individuality  in  popular  poetry  were  repulsive  to  his  artistic  sense. 
Middle  High  German  poetry,  with  the  exception  of  the  Nibelungen- 

^  lied,  he  considered  to  be  little  better  than  imitation  of  French  models 
(XVI,  15).  He  congratulates  Austria  on  the  sound  sense  exhibited 
in  not  trying  to  revive  popular  works,  as  had  been  attempted  in  Ger- 
many (XVIII,  137).  Folk-songs,  he  tells  us,  are  a  barbarous  form 
of  art  (XIII,  186) ;  they  are  like  wild  flowers,  beautiful  in  their  pris- 
tine state,  but  only  weeds  when  placed  beside  cultivated  flowers 
(XVIII,  36) .  To  seek  inspiration  from  such  sources  is  like  drinking 
from  stagnant  pools  while  the  clear  spring  of  poetry  (Homer  and  Shak- 
spere)  bubbles  up  close  at  hand  (III,  115).  Those  who,  like  Uhland, 
collect  popular  songs,  he  compares  to  the  ox  to  whom  the  flowers  and 
weeds  of  the  meadow  are  all  grass  (III,  116).  He  parodies  the  Grimm 
philological  method  by  seeking  to  ascribe  great  antiquity  to  a  mean- 
ingless quatrain  (XIII,  182-84),  and  derides  the  Wolf-Lachmann 
theory  that  epics  are  a  development  from  popular  songs.  "Kein 
Epos  ging  je  vom  Volk,  sondern  von  einzelnen  seltenen,  begabten 
Mannern  aus,  die  allenfalls  das  im  Volk  zerstreute  Sagen-  oder  Lieder- 
material  sammelten  und  zum  Ganzen  bildeten,  mit  Hinzufugung 
eigener  Erfindungen  (denn  zum  Nachschreiber  sich  herzugeben,  hat 
von  jeher  jeder  Begabte  verschmaht) "  (XVIII,  14;.  cf.  also  XVI, 
*5i  24>  25). 

In  like  manner  Grillparzer  was  opposed  to  the  introduction  of  a 

-Germanic  mythology  into  German  poetry.  Friedrich  Schlegel  had 
stated  in  the  Gesprach  ilber  die  Poesie2  that  romantic  poetry  must 

1  E.  K.  Bliimml,   Volkslied-Miscellen  2,  Grillparzer  und  das  deutscke  Volkslied. 
Herrichs  Archivii5,  63  f.     The   same,  Studien  zur  vergl.  Litgesch.  (1907),  II,  191. 

2  J.  Minor,  op.  cit.,  II,  357  f. 


> 


LITERARY  AND  AESTHETIC  VIEWS  1 3 

create  for  itself  a  mythology  just  as  ancient  poetry  had  done.  The  \ 
new  interest  of  the  philologists  of  the  romantic  period  in  the  German  ' 
past  had  made  itself  felt  in  poets  like  Fouque*  and  Uhland,  in  whose 
works  an  attempt  was  made  to  revive  the  old  Norse  gods  and  heroes.1 
Grillparzer  did  not  approve  of  such  attempts.  Speaking  of  Scheller's 
Mythologie  der  nordischen  Volker  (1816)  he  remarks:  uIch  wiisste 
nichts,  was  man  mit  diesen  neblichten  Urformen  in  der  epischen  und 
dramatischen  Poesie  machen  sollte;  im  Lyrischen  mochte  man  sich 
eher  noch  ihrer  zuweilen  bedienen  konnen"  (XVI,  35).  Here,  too, 
it  was  that  lack  of  concrete  definiteness,  characteristic  of  Norse 
mythology  as  compared  with  the  definiteness  of  ancient  mythology, 
on  which  Grillparzer  based  his  judgment. 

And  yet,  despite  the  fact  that  he  hated  many  of  the  theories  of 
the  Schlegels  and  a  great  deal  of  the  practice  of  the  Romantic  school, 
Grillparzer  had  nevertheless  much  in  his  nature  in  common  with  the 
romanticists.     As  a  recent  writer2  has  remarked,  the  fact  that  certain 
thinkers  and  artists  (e.  g.,  Schopenhauer,  Nietzsche,  Ibsen)  have 
been  such  strong  opponents  of  romanticism  often,  indeed  almost 
invariably,  proves  that  they  themselves  have  deeply  rooted  within 
them  the  tendencies  against  which  they  storm,  tendencies  which, 
possibly,  they  are  trying  to  overcome  by  such  protests.     GrillparzerX 
was  himself  conscious  of  his  double  nature  and  states  in  his  autobiog-  / 
raphy:  "  In  mir  namlich  leben  zwei  vollig  abgesonderte  Wesen.     Ein 
Dichter  von  der  libergreifendsten,  ja  sich  uberstiirzendsten  Phantasie, 
und  ein  Verstandesmensch  der  kaltesten  und  zahesten  Art"  (XIX,  79). 
His  imaginative  nature  appears  strongly  in  the  fanciful  dreams  anchv 
visions  of  his  boyhood  (XIX,  13-15),  in  his  love  for  chivalric  and     \ 
ghost  stories  (XIX,  19,  20),  tales  of  travel  and  adventure  (XIX,  25).     J 
That  dreamy  character,  so  common  in  romantic  heroes  and  condemned  ( 
by  him  as  the  misfortune  of  the  German  nation,  he  was  forced  to  \ 
struggle  against  constantly,  for  he  confesses  that  it  was  shared  by 
himself.     "  Ich  spreche  hier  nicht  als  einer,  dem  dieser  dumpf  traum- 
ende  Zustand  fremd  ist,  denn  es  ist  der  meine',  (XVIII,  84).    The 
history  of  the^composition  of  several  of  his  dramas  shows  how  great 

1  Fouque",  Sigurd  der  Schlangentbdter  (Berlin:     Hitzig,    1808);    Der  Held  des 
Nordens  (Berlin,  1810);   L.  Uhland,  Die  Nibelungen  (Entwurf),  1817,  etc. 

a  K.  W.  Goldschmidt,  "Romantik-Epigonen,"  Das  literarische  Echo,  X,  23,  161 7. 


14  grillparzer's  attitude  toward  romanticism 

a  r61e  inspiration  and  Stimmung  played  in  his  work,1  so  much  so 
indeed  that  in  later  life  he  complained  that  he  had  never  learned  to 
work  properly,  but  had  remained  "ein  Mensch  der  Stimmung."2 

While  romanticism  did  not  take  such  deep  root  in  Austria  as  it 
did  in  Germany,  there  was  one  outgrowth  of  it  at  least  which  made 
itself  felt  and  which  was  approved  by  even  such  opponents  of  the 
'movement  as  Schreyvogel,  viz.,  the  fate  tragedy.3  To  quote  Minor:4 
"  Die  Schicksalsidee  tritt  wie  die  Romantilr  zu  der  Zeit  auf,  wo  die 
Aufklarung  ihre  Macht  iiber  die  Geister  zu  verlieren  im  Begriffe  steht 
und  den  Aberglauben,  unter  den  Gebildeten  und  im  Volke,  nicht 
mehr  niederzuhalten  vermag.  Sie  stammt  also  aus  derselben  Wurzel 
wie  die  Romantik,  die  fur  prophetische  Traume  und  Ahnungen,  fiir 
die  Nachtseiten  des  Seelenlebens,  fiir  alien  Aberglauben  jederzeit  das 
warms te  Interesse  bezeugt  und  auch  die  virtuose  Behandlung  aller 
Mittel  der  Stimmungspoesie  vorbereitet  hat,  deren  das  Schicksals- 
drama  bedurfte."  Grillparzer's  first  great  drama,  Die  Ahnjrau, 
belonged  to  this  class5  and  is  clearly  romantic.  Many  of  his  other 
dramas  are,  however,  also  more  or  less  romantic,  as  will  be  shown 
later  more  in  detail.  The  impressions  of  his  youth  were  deeply 
ingrained  in  his  nature  he  declared  himself  in  the  year  1846:  "Die 
Jugendeindrucke  wird  man  nicht  los.  Meinen  eigenen  Arbeiten  merkt 
man  an,  dass  ich  in  der  Kinderzeit  mich  an  den  Geister-  und  Feen- 
marchen  des  Leopoldstadter  Theaters  ergotzt  habe"  (XVIII,  160). 
Sappho,  Das  goldene  Vliess,  Hero,  Der  Traum,  ein  Leben,  Weh  dent, 
der  liigt,  Esther,  Die  Jildin  von  Toledo  and  the  Bruderzwist,  all 
contain  romantic  elements.6  Even  those  dramas  which  are  usually 
considered  as  being  most  classical  in  form  {Sappho,  Medea,  Hero) 

1  Cf .  Die  Ahnfrau,  XIX,  62  f.;  Glossy  und  Sauer,  Tagebuc her,  138,  139;  Das 
goldene  Vliess,  XIX,  97;  Aug.  v.  Littrow-Bischoff,  Aus  d.  pers.  Verkehr  mit  Fr.  G. 
(Wien,  1873),  45;   Tgb.,  63. 

2  Tagebiicher,  88. 

3  E.  Kuh,  Zwei  Dichter  Oesterreichs  (Pest,  1872),  38. 

4  "Zur  Gesch.  d.  Schicksalstragodie,"  Grillparzer  Jahrbuch,  IX,  14,  15. 

s  J.  Minor,  Die  Ahnjrau  u.  d.  Schicksalstragodie,  Forschungen  z.  n.  Lit.-Gesch. 
Festgabe  fur  R.  Heinzel  (Weimar,  1898),  387-434;  J.  Volkelt,  Fr.  Grillparzer  als 
Dichter  des  Tragischen  (Nordlingen,  1888),  151  f.;  A.  Sauer,  Grillparzer s  samtliche 
Werke,  I,  33,  34. 

6  A.  Schonbach,  Gesammelte  Aufsatze  z.  n.  Literatur  (Graz,  1900),  147,  148. 


LITERARY  AND  AESTHETIC  VIEWS  1 5 

are,  as  Scherer  has  pointed  OiitrJove^ragedigs:  "Antike  Anschau- 
ungen,  antike  Empfindungen,  antikes  Heldentum,  antike  Lebens- 
verhaltnisse :  darauf  war  es  von  ihm  nicht  abgesehen,  und  jeder  Vor- 
wurf,  den  man  hieraus  ableitet,  ist  ungerecht.1  Speaking  of  the 
last-named  drama  Grillparzer  himself  says:  "Man  hat  sonderbar 
gefunden,  dass  ich  dem  aus  dem  Stoffe  von  Hero  und  Leander  gezo- 
genen  Stiicke  den  Titel:  'Des  Meeres  und  der  Liebe  Wellen'  gegeben. 
Mir  lag  aber  daran,  gleich  von  vornherein  anzudeuten,  dass  die 
Behandlung,  obgleich  mit  antiker  Farbung,  doch  romantisch  gemeint 
sei"  (XVIII,  191). 

Grillparzer,  indeed,  was  far  from  being  opposed  to  the  romantic, 
element  in  poetry.    He  criticizes,  as  has  been  pointed  out,  the  lack ' 
of  form  and  clarity,  the  confusion  of  philosophic  and  poetic  elements, 
the  intermingling  of  feeling  and  reflection,  of  poetry  and  prose,  so 
characteristic  of  much  of  the  work  of  the  Romantic  school.    A  few ' 
years  before  his  death  (1868)  he  stated  that  he  was  no  enemy  of  roman- 
ticism, but  of  the. exaggerations jof .the  romanticists:    "Romantik: 
Gehorst  du  auch  unter  meine  Gegner?    Ich:    Im  Gegenteil.     Du 
unterhaltst  mich  mit  deinen  bunten  Bildern.    Aber  deine  Anhanger 
haben  die  Sache  doch  sehr  tibertrieben.     Romantik :  Was  wird  nicht 
alles  tibertrieben  ?  und  was  geht  das  mich  an  ?    Ich:  Und  dann  der 
fatale  romanische  Name:    Romantik!    Romantik:    Nun,  so  nenne 
mich  auf  deutsch !    Ich:  Wiealsodenn?    Romantik:  Diejugend" 
(XIII,  187).     Romantic  and  poetic  are  indeed  almost  synonymous\ 
terms  with  him  (XVII,  169).     Romantic  poetry  he  prefers  to  call  ] 
Empfindungspoesie  (XV,  63),  and  without  Empfindung  he  believes  / 
that  there  can  be  no  genuine  poetry.     "Was  dem  empfindenden 
Menschen  wahr  ist,  ist  poetisch  wahr,  und  was  dem  denkenden 
Menschen    wahr  ist,    ist  philosophisch   wahr"    (XV,  38;    cf.   also 
XV,  62).    This  doctrine,  as  Strich  has  pointed  out,2  corresponds 
very  closely  to  the  view  of  the  romanticists  and  especially  of  NovaliSX 
Grillparzer  deplores  the  substitution  of  Gedanken  for  Empfindung   , 
in  poetry:  "  Es  ist  das  Grundubel  der  Poesie  (der  lyrischen  besonders)  ' 
aller  neueren  Nationen,  dass  sie  sich  zur  Prosa  hinneigt.    Nicht 

1  W.  Scherer,  Vortrdge  u.  Aufsatze  zur  Gesch.  d.  geist.  Lebens  in  Deutschland  und 
Oesterreich  (Berlin,  1874),  198;   cf.  also  Grill  par  zers  sdmtliche  Werke,  XIX,  74. 
»  F.  Strich,  op.  cit.,  34,  35- 


1 6  grillparzer's  attitude  toward  romanticism 

dadurch,  dass  sie  trivial  wird,  sondern  gerade,  wenn  sie  sich  erhebt 
Ihre  hochste  Erhebung  ist  namlich  bis  zum  Gedanken,  indes  nichts 
poetisch'ist  als  die  Empfindung"  (XV,  67).  Poetry  he  defines 
as  "die  Empfindung  des  Verstandes  und  das  Denken  des  Gefiihls" 
(XV,  55).  It  is  not  somelKIng^rat  can  be  appreciated  fully  by  the 
understanding  alone,  as  the  Aufklarer  had  believed.  "Weh  dem 
Gedicht,  das  sich  vbllig  durch  den  Verstand  erklaren  lasst"  (XV,  24). 
"Ein  Kunstwerk  muss  sein  wie  die  Natur,  deren  verklartes  Abbild 
es  ist:  fur  den  tiefsten  Forscherblick  noch  nicht  ganz  erklarlich;  und 
doch  fur  das  blosse  Beschauen  etwas,  und  zwar  etwas  Bedeutendes,, 
(XV,  40).  These  and  similar  utterances  Strich1  has  shown  to  be 
developments  of  Kant's  doctrine  and  shared  by  Schelling  and  other 
>mantic  writers  on  aesthetics.  For  Grillparzer  the  problem  to  be 
solved  by  poetry  and  art  is  to  bring  the  world  into  harmony  with  the 
laws  of  feeling  (Empfindung)  (XV,  38)  and  that  is  what  he  always 
strove  to  do  in  his  own  works.  "  Mein  Vorsatz  ist,"  he  stated  in  1838, 
"der  Verstandes-  und  Meinungspoesie  unserer  Zeit  nicht  nachzu- 
geben.  Das  Bild,  die  Gestalt,  Gefuhl  und  Phantasie  festzuhalten 
und  der  Unmittelbarkeit  der  Anschauung  zu  gehorchen,  die  splitter- 
richtende  Kritik  mag  dazu  sagen,  was  sie  will"  (XVIII,  160).  He 
disapproves  of  the  subjection  of  the  spiritual  world  to  the  common 
laws  of  matter  as  is  the  case  in  Gervinus'  history  of  German  literature: 
"  Der  Willkur,  der  Stimmung,  dem  Genie,  der  Laune  ist  kein  Spiel- 
raum  gelassen,  bis  aufs  Blut  wird  alles  erklart,  und  wenn  der  Mensch 
bis  dahin  ein  kaum  losbares  Ratsel  schien,  sieht  man  mit  einemmal, 
dass  jede  Erscheinung  der  sittlichen  Welt  sich  nach  den  Anhand- 
gebungen  der  Regeldetri  und  des  Einmaleins  darlegen  lassen" 
(XVIII,  15). 

""  Like  the  classicists,  Grillparzer  believes  that  art  has  as  its  object 
the  representation  of  the  beautiful  (XV,  24) .  His  view  of  the  beau- 
tiful has,  however,  as  Strich  has  pointed  out,2  much  in  common  with 
the  romantic  view.  Like  Bouterweck,  Schelling,  and  A.  W.  Schlegel 
he  gives  up  the  Kantian  division  of  Beautiful  and  Sublime  and  main- 
tains that  the  Sublime  is  only  a  form  of  the  Beautiful  (XV,  10).  On 
the  other  hand,  although  he  objected  to  the  love  of  the  distorted  and 

1  Op.  cit.,  77  f. 

2  Ibid.,  51. 


LITERARY   AND  AESTHETIC  VIEWS  1 7 

the  depiction  of  the  dark  side  of  life  found  frequently  in  HebbePs 
works,1  he  was  not  averse  to  combining  the  ugly  with  the  beautiful, 
as  the  romanticists  were  wont  to  do,  whenever  a  new  harmony  was 
created  by  such  a  combination.  Friedrich  Schlegel  had  stated  in 
his  work,  Ueber  das  Studium  der  griechischen  Poesie,  that  the  beautiful 
was  not  the  standard  according  to  which  modern  poetry  could  be 
judged:  "Dies  ist  so  wenig  das  herrschende  Prinzip  der  modernen 
Poesie,  dass  viele  ihrer  trefflichsten  Werke  ganz  offenbar  Darstel- 
lungen  des  Hasslichen  sind."2  He  admires  the  intermingling  of  these 
two  elements  in  the  works  of  Shakspere:  "Wie  die  Natur  Schones 
und  Hassliches  durch  einander  mit  gleich  uppigem  Reichtum  erzeugt, 
so  auch  Shakespeare."3  Grillparzer  makes  the  same  distinction 
between  romantic  and  classic  as  Schlegel.  "Das  Unterscheidende 
des  Romantischen  gegeniiber  dem  Klassischen  ist,  dass  ersteres  bloss 
die  Gemtitswirkung  bezweckt,  gleichviel,  auf  welche  Art  sie  bewirkt 
wird;  das  Interessante,  das  Geistreiche,  das  Bedeutende,  ja  das 
Hassliche,  alles  ist  ihr  willkommen,  wenn  nur  die  beabsichtigte  Auf- 
regung  dadurch  hervorgebracht  wird.  Die  alte  Kunst  aber  ging 
bloss  auf  das  Schone,"  etc.  (XV,  67).  He  admires  the  success 
achieved  by  modern  art  in  combining  these  opposites  into  a  new 
harmony:  "Es  ist  uberhaupt  merkwiirdig  zu  beobachten  wie  die 
neuere  Kunst,  verglichen  mit  der  alten,  vom  Unsinn  und  der 
Geschmacklosigkeit  ausgeht,  und  das  bunte,  absurde  Zeug  sich  nach 
und  nach  zu  einer  Richtung  abklart,  die  als  vdllig  verschiedener  Typus 
neben  den  Meisterwerken  der  Alten  wiirdig  und  gewissermassen 
selbstandig  bestehen  kann,"  etc.  (XVI,  179).  In  his  own  work  he 
is  romantic,  like  Shakspere  and  Lope  de  Vega,  in  the  way  in  which 
he  mixes  comic  and  tragic  elements.  "In  seinen  Jugendstiicken," 
says  Sauer,  "  streut  er  nach  Shakespearischer  Weise  unter  den  ernsten 
Scenen  komische  ein"  (I,  75),  and  Volkelt4  has  shown  that  in  almost 
all  his  tragedies  comic  elements  appear. 

1  Littrow-Bischoff,  op.  cit.,  148. 

2  J.  Minor,  Op.  cit.,  I,  88. 

3  Ibid.,  I,  108;  cf.  Victor  Hugo  on  the  combination  of  the  sublime  and  the  grotesque 
in  art,  Preface  de  Cromwell,  Theatre  (Paris:  Hachette,  1884),  I,  21  f. 

4  "Grillparzer  als  Dichter  des  Komischen,"  Grillparzer  Jahrbuch,  XV,  1-30;  also 
Fr.  Grillparzer  als  Dichter  des  Tragischen,  20,  21. 


( 


1 8  grillparzer's  attitude  toward  romanticism 

Also  in  his  view  of  the  supernatural  (das  Wunderbare)  and  the 

rdle  which  it  plays  in  poetry  Grillparzer  shows  some  affinity  to  the 

romanticists.     "AucJ^asJWunderbare,"  he  stated  in  the  year  1819, 

"ist  der  Hachafanuftg--4er-Jfetu£  nicht  enthoben."     He  justifies 

the  employment  of  the  supernatural  for  poetic  purposes  on  the  ground 

that  the  objective  truth  of  the  picture  is  relatively  unimportant  so 

long  as  the  subjective  effect  of  the  same  is  true.     For  this  reason  he 

admires  Calderon's  use  of  the  superstitions  which  have  grown  up 

(about  Catholicism,  producing  through  them  an  effect  which  is  often 

\greater  than  that  which  is  produced  by  religion  itself  (XVI,  32). 

This  view  became  more  and  more  established  with  Grillparzer  and 

in  1837  we  find  him  still  defending  the  miraculous  and  supernatural 

elements  in  poetry:   "Eigentlich  absurde,  aber  durch  ihr  immerwah- 

rendes  Vorkommen  als  in  der  innersten  Natur  des  Menschen  begriindet 

anzusehende  Vorstellungen,  daher  fur  die  Philosophic  verwerflich, 

fur  die  Poesie  aber  von  hohem  Werte:    Strafe  der  Unthat  bis  ins 

spateste  Geschlecht.     Wirkung  von  Elternfluch  und  Segen.     Vor- 

bedeutende  Traume.     Das  Schicksal,  mit  Vorauswissen  und  Vor- 

ausbestimmen  gedacht.     Die  Gottheit  leidenschaftlich.     Eine  von 

den  natiirlichen  Folgen  der  That  verschiedene  Nemesis.    Wahr- 

sagung.      Gespensterglauben.      Spezielle    Erhorung    des    Gebetes. 

Gluck  und  Ungluck,  objektiv  gedacht"  (XV,  65).     In  his  youth  he 

showed  a  preference  for  romantic  poets  like  Calderon  (I,  81  f.), 

Zacharias  Werner,  and  Milliner,  poets  whose  works  are  full  of  such 

elements.     "Die  Poesie,"  he  states  in  his  Autobiography,  "kann  des 

Hereinspielens  eines  Uebersinnlichen  in  das  Menschliche  nie  ent- 

behren Die  Alten  hatten  die  grandiose  Gestalt  des  Schicksals; 

aber  auch  nur  fur  die  Poesie Diese  grossartige  Gestalt  ist 

allerdings  durch  die  neueren  Religionen  zerstort  worden,  aber  die 

Trummer  da  von  leben  unvertilgbar  als  Vorbedeutung  und  Vorahnung, 

als  Wirkung  von  Fluch  und  Segen,  als  Gespenster-  und  Hexenglauben 

/  fort."    The  use  of  the  supernatural  element  can  indeed  be  traced 

i    in  many  of  Grillparzer's  dramas,  being  particularly  conspicuous  in 

\  works  like  the  Ahnjrau,  Das  goldene  Vliess,  Der  Traum,  ein  Leben, 

^Melusina,  etc.1 

1  A.  Sauer,  Ueber  das  Zauberische  bet  Grillparzer.     Gesammelte  Reden  und  Auf- 
satze  zur  Geschichte  der  Literatur  in  Oester.  und  Deutschland  (Wien,  1903),  205-30. 


LITERARY   AND   AESTHETIC   VIEWS  1 9 

I  have  so  far  treated  largely  of  matters  having  reference  to  Grill- 
parzer's  views  on  literature  and  aesthetics.  In  considering  his  dramas, 
however,  a  number  of  problems  present  themselves  which  show  that 
Grillparzer's  bias  was  toward  romanticism.  His  views  of  art,  love,N 
ethics,  fate  and  guilt,  monarchy,  nature,  the  highest  good,  etc.,  all 
show  romantic  influence  and  will  be  treated  later  in  detail.  Also 
his  use  of  language1  and  verse  betrays  to  some  extent  the  same  influ- 
ence. These,  however,  are  special  problems  which  I  merely  mention 
here  before  passing  on  to  one  of  the  most  fruitful  sources  for  showing 
the  influence  of  romanticism,  namely,  to  an  examination  of  the  differ- 
ent types  of  character  which  Grillparzer  prefers  to  portray  in  his 
dramas. 

1  M.  Schutze,  Repetition  of  a  Word  as  a  Means  of  Suspense  in  the  Drama  under 
the  Influence  of  Romanticism.     Studies  in  German  Romanticism,  Part  I  (Chicago,  1907) . 


II.     THE  CHARACTERS 

In  his  review  of  Goethe's  Egmont  Schiller  states  that  the  drama 
may  treat  of  actions  and  situations,  or  passions,  or  characters.     Even 
where  there  is  a  combination  of  all  three,  one  of  these  features  always 
/  predominates  as  the  final  purpose  of  the  work.     The  ancient  writers 
of  tragedy,  Schiller  goes  on  to  say,  limited  themselves  almost  exclu- 
sively to  the  representation  of  situations  and  the  depiction  of  passions. 
\  The  drama  of  character,  on  the  other  hand,  belongs  to  modern  times 
and  more  especially  to  the  time  since  Shakspere.     Shakspere,  with 
dramas  like  Macbeth  and  Richard  the  Third,  was  the  first  to  bring 
/'  on  the  stage  whole  men,  and  Goethe  in  his  Gotz  and  Egmont  gave 
\   to  Germany  the  first  example  of  dramas  in  which  the  unity  lay  neither 
\in  the  situations  nor  in  any  passion  but  in  the  character  of  the  hero.1 
In  Schiller's  own  dramas  the  action  is  always  most  conspicuous. 
Schiller,  indeed,  rarely  succeeds  in  depicting  genuine  passion  and 
the  characters  which  he  has  drawn  are  not  only  types,  but  often 
abstractions.     Speaking  of   Schiller's  characters  MauerhofP   says: 
"Es  sind  fortan  nicht  mehr  Menschen,  die  auftreten  und  vor  uns 
handeln,  sondern  kostumierte  Wachsfiguren,  ftir  die  deren  Bildner, 
so  gut  als  seine  akademischen  Begriffe  von  der  Sache  es  ihm  erlauben, 
und  vor  alien  Dingen  so  schon  und  klangvoll  wie  moglich,  spricht. 
....  Seine  Menschen  wollen  nie,  konnen  darum  auch  nicht  leiden, 
vergehen  sich  aber  zufallig  in  wirklicher  oder  eingebildeter  Art  und 
mussen  dafur  zu  ihrem  bitteren  Leidwesen  mit  dem  Tode  biissen." 
Ricarda  Huch3  was  evidently  of  the  same  opinion  when  she  wrote: 
"  Unvergleichlich  verstand  es  Schiller,  seinen  Dramen  einen  Korper 
zu  geben;  aber  die  Kehrseite  ist:  auch  die  Menschen,  die  er  schafft, 
sind  nur  Korper,  die  sich  bewegen,  handeln  und  gestikulieren,  lachen 
und  weinen;  wir  sehen  ihre  Seelen  nicht,  aus  denen  all  dies  wirbelnde 
Leben  herausquillt,  horen  die  Spharenmusik  nicht,  die  den  grossen 
Reigen  des  Weltalls  innerlich  begleitet." 

1  Schiller '$  sdmtliche  Werke  (Sakular-Ausgabe,  Cotta),  XVI,  179,  180. 

2  Schiller  und  Kleist,  56,  57. 

3  Bliitezeit  der  Romantik  (Leipzig,  1905),  206. 


THE  CHARACTERS  21 


in  / 


The  main  interest  in  Grillparzer's  dramas,  on  the  other  hand 
rests  in  the  characters.  His  theory  of  the  drama  is  summed  up 
the  words:  "Menschliche  Handlungen  und  Leidenschaften  sind 
der  Vorwurf  der  tragischen  Kunst.  Alles  andere,  und  ware  es  auch 
das  Hochste,  bleibt  zwar  nicht  ausgeschlossen,  aber  ist — Maschine" 
(XV,  97).  Several  of  his  plays,  indeed,  were  adapted  to  the  special 
actors  who  were  to  play  the  various  roles.1  Schiller's  dramas,  which 
were  at  one  time  his  ideal,  soon  ceased  to  be  so.2  His  own  plays 
have  little  in  common  with  Schiller's  apart  from  some  external  simi- 
larities in  the  use  of  certain  motifs.3  In  their  fundamental  structure 
and  especially  in  the  emphasis  laid  on  character  and  passions  they\ 
show  a  much  closer  kinship  with  the  technique  of  Goethe  and  of 
Shakspere.  Throughout  his  works,  in  fact,  Grillparzer  shows  an 
ever-increasing  tendency  toward  the  individualistic  and  the  charac- 
teristic— a  tendency  which  Friedrich  Schlegel  designates  as  the  dis- 
tinguishing mark  of  romantic  poetry.4  The  success  of  the  Ahnjrau 
had  been  attributed  by  many  to  the  element  of  the  supernatural,  to 
the  interesting  combination  of  the  robber  incidents  with  the  fate 
tendencies  of  the  work,  in  short  to  melodramatic  effects.  In  his 
next  work  the  poet  determined  to  let  his  characters  speak  for  them- 
selves. "  Ich  nahm  mir  vor,  mein  nachstes  Produkt  ein  Gegenstiick 
dieses  tollen  Treibens  werden  zu  lassen"  (XVIII,  173).  He  there- 
fore chose  the  subject  of  Sappho,  a  subject  with  a  plot  so  simple  as\ 
to  be  almost  devoid  of  incidents.  Here  the  chief  interest  centers  about 
Sappho,  Phaon,  and  Melitta — the  plot  is  purely  personal.  All  his 
later  plays,  with  the  possible  exception  of  Der  Traum,  ein  Leben  and 
Melusina,  betray  an  ever-increasing  interest  in  the  characters  andi 
passions.  Des  Meeres  und  der  Liebe  Wellen  is  almost  as  simple  in  its 
plot  as  Sappho;  the  Treuer  Diener,  as  Sauer5  has  pointed  out,  is  a 
masterpiece  of  characterization,  while  later  works  like  the  Bruder- 

1  Glossy  und  Sauer,  Grillparzer s  Brief e  und  Tagebiicher  (Stuttgart  und  Berlin), 
I,  56,  88;    II,  13. 

2  Glossy  und  Sauer,  op.  cit.,  II,  1,  27  f. 

3  O.  E.  Lessing,  Schillers  Einfluss  auf  Grillparzer.  (Bulletin  of  the  University 
of  Wisconsin,  No.  54,  1902) ;  ibid.,  "  Motive  aus  Schiller  in  Grillparzers  Meisterwerken." 
Journal  0}  English  and  Germanic  Philology,  V  (1903),  33-43. 

4  J.  Minor,  Friedrich  Schlegels  Jugendschrijten,  I,  107. 
s  Grillparzer  Jahrbuch,  III,  23  f. 


22  GRILLPARZER'S   ATTITUDE  TOWARD  ROMANTICISM 

zwist  in  Habsburg  and  the  Jiidin  von  Toledo  afford  examples  of 
individualization  which  border  on  realism. 

But  not  only  does  Grillparzer  show  the  influence  of  romanticism 
in  that  he  lays  most  stress  on  the  psychological  development  of  charac- 
ters and  passions,  but  the  types  which  he  prefers  to  portray  are  for 
the  most  part  romantic  types.  Almost  every  critic  has  referred  to  the 
fa£t  that  in  all  his  works  Grillparzer  has  not  represented  a  single 
really  strong  character.  All  are  imperfect  types,  mostly  inactive 
and  wavering.,  passive  and  undecided  in  nature,  or,  if  active  and  self- 

/  assertive,  soon  prove  their  inability  to  cope  with  the  problems  which 
face  them.  Instinct  and  feeling,  so  prominent  in  romantic  characters, 
are  the  ruling  principles  of  their  lives.  They  do  not  mold  the  course 
of  events  by  force  of  will,  but,  as  a  rule,  seek  refuge  from  the  turmoils 
and  conflicts  of  life  in  retirement  and  contemplation.  "  Einen  Helden 
des  machtigen  Willens,  der  sich  aufreibt  in  schmerzlichen  Ringen  mit 
der  widerstrebenden  Welt — ja  selbst  eine  aufflammende,  verheerende 
Leidenschaft,  die  zu  furchtbaren  Taten  spornt,  hat  Grillparzer  nie 
dargestellt,"  says  Scherer.1  Volkelt2  speaks  much  in  the  same  tone 
when  he  states:  "Und  in  der  Tat  findet  sich  unter  den  tragischen 
Helden  Grillparzers,  ausser  Ottokar  keine  einzige  Herrschernatur, 
ja  uberhaupt  kein  ganzer  Mann,  und  auch  unter  den  Personen  zweiter 
Linie  ist  einzig  Rudolf  von  Habsburg  ein  Charakter,  in  dem  das 
spezifisch  Mannliche  zu  umfassender  und  kraftvoller  Entwicklung 
gekommen  ist."  This  same  characteristic  is  noted  by  Schwering,3 
who  compares  Grillparzer's  persons  with  those  of  Lord  Byron  and 
draws  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  Austrian  dramatist  depicts  mostly 
"schwankende  Mannercharaktere,  wetterwendische,  der  Laune  des 
Augenblicks  sich  ftigende  Naturen." 

(^    Grillparzer's  strongest  characters  are  indeed  not  men  but  women. 

I   According  to  Faulhammer4  the  strength  of  his  plays  is  to  be  found  in 

*  the  admirable  depiction  of  his  women,  and  Scherer5  has  noted  that 

1  Franz  Grillparzer,  Vortrage  u.  Aujsatze  zur  Gesch.  d.  geistigen  Lebens  in  Deutsch- 
land  und  Oesterreich  (Berlin,  1874),  214. 

2  Franz  Grillparzer  als  Dichter  des  Tragischen  (Nordlingen,  1888),  35. 

3  Franz  Grillparzers  hellenische  Trauerspiele  (Paderborn,  1891),  45;  cf.  also  G. 
Freytag,  Ges.  Werke  (Leipzig:  Hirzel,  1886-88),  XVI,  329. 

<*  Franz  Grillparzer  (Graz,  1884),  159. 
s  Op.  cit.,  295. 


THE  CHARACTERS  23 

in  representing  lofty  womanhood  the  poet's  fancy  was  most  power- 
fully stimulated.     Sappho  and  Medea  are  infinitely  greater  than 
Phaon  and  Jason,  and  Hero,  Esther,  Rahel,  and  Libussa  come  in 
for  a  much  larger  share  of  the  poet's  sympathy  than  the  various  men- 
characters  with  whom  they  are  associated.     In  this  regard  Grill- 
parzer's  genius  resembled  Goethe's.     "Mit  grosserem  Rechte,  als 
von  Goethe,"  writes  Mahrenholtz,1  "lasst  sich  von  ihm  sagen,  dass 
er  nur  auf  die  Zeichnung  des  Weibes  sich  verstanden  habe,  die  der 
Manner  dagegen  bei  ihm  eine  schwachlich-verblasste  sei,"  and  Fari- 
nelli,2  comparing  the  persons  of  the  Austrian  poet  with  those  of  his\ 
favorite  Lope,  states  that  Grillparzer's  women  possess  for  the  most  j 
part  those  qualities  which  are  lacking  in  his  men  and  which  befit/ 
the  man. 

The  prominence  accorded  to  women  in  the  dramas  of  Grillparzer 
may  be  looked  upon  as  the  result  of  the  gradual  elevation  of  the 
social  status  of  woman  which  began  toward  the  close  of  the  eighteenth 
century  and  was  most  zealously  preached  by  Friedrich  Schlegel,  the 
apostle  of  romanticism.3  In  the  studies  Ueber  die  Diotima  and  Ueber\ 
die  Philosophie,  in  the  Lyceum  and  Athenaum  fragments,  and  in  his  1 
novel,  Lucinde,  Schlegel  has  stated  his  doctrine  on  the  subject  of  woman,  i 
Like  Plato  and  the  Stoics  he  was  a  firm  believer  in  the  theory  that 
"die  Weiblichkeit,  wie  die  Mannlichkeit  der  hoheren  Menschlichkeit 
untergeordnet  sein  soil,"4  and  condemned  the  " Knechtschaft  der 
Weiber"  as  a  "  Krebsschaden  der  Menschlichkeit."5  The  women 
of  the  romantic  circle,  Caroline,  Henriette  Herz,  Dorothea,  and 
Rahel  Levin,  women  of  the  highest  culture  and  intellectual  independ- 
ence, were  the  representatives  of  the  new  ideal  of  womanhood,  an 
ideal  which  was  just  the  opposite  of  the  quiet  household  sphere  of 
woman  praised  by  Schiller  in  his  Wiirde  der  Frauen.  This  new  type 
of  woman  soon  made  her  appearance  in  various  forms  in  the  literature 
of  the  day — in  the  Thusnelda  and  Penthesilea  of  Heinrich  von  Kleist, 
in  the  Judith  and  Chriemhild  of  Hebbel,  and  in  Grillparzer's  Sappho, 
Medea,  Kunigunde,  Esther,  and  Rahel. 

1  Franz  Grillparzer  (Leipzig,  1890),  38. 

2  Grillparzer  und  Lope  de  Vega  (Berlin,  1894),  288. 

3  H.  Gschwind,  Die  elhischen  Neuerungen  der  Frilh-Romantik  (Bern,  1903). 

4  J.  Minor,  Fr.  Schlegels  Jugendschrijtcn,  I,  56. 

5  "  Lyceumf ragmente  106,"  ibid.,  II,  198. 


t 

{ 


24  grillparzer's  attitude  toward  romanticism 

/  Not  only  are  Grillparzer's  strongest  characters  his  women  but 
also  most  of  the  men  whom  he  has  portrayed  have  something  feminine 
in  their  nature.  For  this  reason  they  have  often  been  compared 
with  the  men-characters  found  in  Goethe's  works.  "  Unwillkiirlich 
erinnert  der  Dichter  an  sein  grosses  Vorbild  Goethe,  auch  dadurch, 
dass  die  mannlichen  Figuren  schwacher  oft  schwachlich  erscheinen," 
writes  Faulhammer,1  and  Bulthaupt2  remarks  that  in  almost  all  of 
Grillparzer's  dramas  the  man  is  the  weaker,  not  the  woman.  In 
this  regard,  ^too,  Grillparzer  was  at  one  with  the  romanticists  and 
opposed  to  Schiller.  The  exaggerated  idea  of  Mannlichkeit  which 
is  characteristic  of  all  of  Schiller's  men  was  just  as  distasteful  to  the 
romanticists  as  the  super-femininity  of  the  women  generally  found  in 
his  plays.  "  Manner  wie  diese,"  said  Friedrich  Schlegel,3  "miissten 
'an  Handen  und  Beinen  gebunden  werden;  solchen  Frauen  ziemte 
Gangelband  und  Fallhut."  The  romantic  idea  of  a  perfect  character 
was  that  of  a  person  who  combined  within  himself  the  best  features 
of  botlj_sexes.  As  Novalis4  stated  it:  "  Der  Mann  ist  gewissermassen 
auch  Weib,  so  wie  das  Weib  Mann."  Friedrich  Schlegel  was  never 
tired  of  preaching  this  doctrine.     "Nur  sanfte  Mannlichkeit,  nur 

(selbstandige  Weiblichkeit  ist  die  rechte,  wahre  und  schone."5  He 
believed  that  the  character  of  the  sexes  should  not  be  exaggerated, 
but  rather  equalized:  "In  der  Tat  sind  die  Mannlichkeit  und  die 
Weiblichkeit,  so  wie  sie  gewohnlich  getrieben  werden,  die  gefahr- 
lichsten  Hindernisse  der  Menschlichkeit,  welche  nach  einer  alten  Sage 
einheimisch  ist  und  doch  nur  ein  harmonisches  Ganze  sein  'kann, 
welches  keine  Absonderung  leidet."6 

Grillparzer's  characters  correspond  excellently  to  Schlegel's 
demand  for  " sanfte  Mannlichkeit"  and  " selbstandige  Weiblichkeit." 
Sappho,  Medea,  Esther,  Libussa,  and  Rahel  are  the  leading  spirits 
of  the  dramas  in  which  they  play  a  role,  and  are  infinitely  greater 
than  any  of  the  men-characters  in  the  same.     On  the  other  hand, 

1  Op.  cit.,  p.  64. 

2  Dramaturgic  des  Schauspiels,  7.  Aufl.  (Oldenburg  und  Leipzig,  1904),  III,  77. 

3  J.  Minor,  op.  cit.,  II,  4. 

4  Novalis  Schriften,  herausgegeben  von  E.  Heilborn  (Berlin,  1901),  II,  2,  506. 
s  J.  Minor,  op.  cit.,  II,  321. 

6  Ibid.,  II,  321. 


THE  CHARACTERS  25 

Jaromir,  Phaon,  Leander,  Rustan,  Rudolf  the  Second,  Bancbanus, 
Alfonso,  and  even  Jason  and  Ottokar  all  belong  to  the  mdnnlich-y. 
weiblich  type.     Like  the  persons  in  the  various  romantic  novels  they  \ 
are  "  unstat  und  wankelmutig"  and  either  lack  the  power  to  act  or  fail 
to  maintain  their  manly  dignity  when  fortune  ceases  to  smile  upon  / 
them. 

For  the  purpose  of  analysis,  I  have  divided  the  characters  in  Grill- 
parzer's  dramas  who  may  be  considered  as  showing  romantic  tenden- 
cies into  three  classes: 

1.  The  instinctive  type,  who  follow  blindly  uncontrollable  impulses. 
To  this  class  belong:  Bertha  and  Jaromir,  Phaon  and  Melitta,  Medea, 
Hero  and  Leander,  Rahel,  etc. 

2.  The  quietistic  type  which  turns  away  from  life  and  seeks  happi- 
ness in  retirement  and  solitude.  Among  such  are :  Rudolf  the  Second, 
Matthias,  Libussa  and  her  sisters,  Rustan,  Sappho,  etc. 

3.  Commonplace  characters  drawn  from  ordinary  life. 

I.      THE  INSTINCTIVE   TYPE 

The  characterization  in  the  Ahnjrau  is  weak,  but  the  type  which  is 
represented  by  Jaromir  and  Bertha,  the  two  chief  persons  of  the 
drama,  is  purely  romantic.  Both  belong  to  that  class  of  unmoral 
characters  who  are  so  commonly  met  with  in  the  works  of  the  roman- 
ticists.    They  are  both  represented  as  children  of  instinct  who  follow 

blindly   the   dictates  of  their  own  passions,    irrespective  of  right 

or  wrong.     The  moral  significance  of  their  actions  rarely  enters  into 
their  thoughts.     In  the  spirit  of  the  true  romanticist  they  believe  in\ 
the  right  of  the  individual  to  live  his  life  without  the  restriction  of  any   \ 
law  save  that  of  his  own  free  and  untrammeled  personality,  the  die-  J 
tates  of  which  they  follow  unswervingly.  -*-*^ 

From  the  very  first  Bertha  is  pictured  as  yielding  entirely  to  her  -— . 
natural  instincts.     On  awakening  from  her  swoon  and  finding  herself 
secure  from  the  robbers  who  had  threatened  her  life,  she  gives  herself 
up  whole-heartedly  and  without  a  thought  to  a  perfect  stranger,  to 
whom  she  feels  irresistibly  attracted  like  the  steel  to  the  magnet: 

Wie  ein  Kind  am  Mutterbusen, 
Hing  ich  an  des  Teuern  Lippen, 
Seine/ heissen  Kiisse  trinkend  (IV,  22). 


26  grillparzer's  attitude  toward  romanticism 

It  would  almost  seem  as  if  she  had  partaken  of  some  magic  potion, 
so  all-absorbing  is  this  passion  in  her  life.  The  count,  her  father, 
is  struck  by  it  but  accepts  it  as  something  inevitable: 

Wie  sie  gliiht, 
Wie  es  sie  hinuberzieht ! 
Aller  Widerstand  genommen, 
Und  im  Strudel  fort  geschwommen. 
Nun  wohlan,  es  sei!     (IV,  48,  49). 

Despite  her  intense  longing  for  Jaromir,  however,  she  has  at  certain 
moments  a  feeling  that  all  is  not  well.  An  inner  voice  whispers  to 
her  that  her  love  is  criminal,  but  she  has  not  the  power  to  resist. 
Like  the  romanticists  she  does  not  believe  that  she  is  acting  freely 
but  feels  that  she  is  in  the  grasp  of  a  power  which  keeps  driving  her 
on  in  spite  of  herself: 

Doch  will  ich  mich  ihm  entziehen, 
Trifft  sein  Blick  mich  weich  und  warm, 
Mit  dem  Willen,  zu  entfliehen, 
Flieh  ich  nur  in  seinen  Arm  (IV,  65). 

Even  after  she  learns  that  Jaromir  is  a  robber  and  the  captain  of  the 
band  who  have  perpetrated  so  many  cruelties — the  man  whom  her 
father  and  the  soldiers  are  hunting  down  like  a  wild  beast,  her  passion 
for  him  soon  overcomes  all  other  considerations.  For  his  sake  she  is 
ready  to  desert  her  father  and,  forgetful  of  filial  duties  and  moral 
obligations,  would  flee  with  him  to  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth. 
— -  In  thus  deciding  Bertha  is  yielding  to  her  natural  impulses.  It 
is  interesting  to  note  how  Grillparzer  has  traced  step  by  step  the  devel- 
opment which  goes  on  within  her.  She  is  a  prey  to  conflicting  emo- 
tions. She  feels  that  all  is  lost,  arid  yet  she  cannot  bear  to  be  separated 
from  her  lover;  she  knows  that  she  ought  to  detest  him,  and  yet  she 
cannot  help  loving  him.  "Himmel!  Fort!"  she  exclaims  (IV,  76); 
but  when  Jaromir,  taking  her  at  her  word,  is  about  to  leave  with  the 
desperate  resolve  of  surrendering  himself  up  to  justice,  she  springs 
to  her  feet  and  checks  him.  Her  voice,  her  look  betrays  her  love  and 
he  feels  that  there  is  still  something  to  live  for.  She  still  attempts  to 
resist  when  he  tries  to  take  her  hand,  but  soon,  moved  by  his  entreaties 
and  by  the  passion  which  she  has  for  him,  surrenders  completely  with 
the  exclamation:    " Jaromir,  ach!    Jaromir!"  (IV,  79).     From  now 


THE  CHARACTERS  27 

on  she  has  lost  all  power  of  resistance  and  yields  to  everything  which 
he  suggests: 

Bertha.  Fliehen  soil  ich  ? 

Jaromir.  Kann  ich  bleiben  ? 

Kann  ich  fliehen  ohne  dich  ? 
Bertha.  Und  mein  Vater  ? 

Jaromir.  Weib  und  ich  ? 

Wohl  so  bleib:  auch  ich  will  bleiben. 

Hier,  hier  sollen  sie  mich  finden, 

Fassen,  wiirgen,  fesseln,  binden. 


Bertha.  Ach,  halt  ein ! 

Jaromir.  Du  willst  ? 

Bertha  (halb  ohnmachtig).  Ich  will!    (IV,  80). 

In  Jaromir  we  have  depicted  a  typical  romantic  robber,  a  mar? 
capable  of  the  boldest  and  most  bloodthirsty  deeds  and  at  the  same 
time  a  dreamer  who  loves  solitude  and  brooding.  He  belongs  to  the 
same  family  as  Selim  whom  Byron  has  described  in  the  Bride  of 
Abydos — a  youth  in  whom  the  trained  eye  of  a  Giaffir,  accustomed 
to  discern  warriors  can  see  no  signs  of  "aught  that  beseems  a  man."1 
And  yet,  like  Selim,  Jaromir  turns  out  to  be  the  dreaded  leader  of  a 
fierce  band  of  robbers,  a  wonderful  mixture  of  the  romantic  mannlich- 
weiblich  type.  We  first  hear  of  him  in  Bertha's  account  of  how  she 
was  drawn  farther  and  farther  into  the  woods  by  the  sound  of  a  lute : 

Klagend,  stohnend,  Mitleid  flehend, 
Mit  der  Tonkunst  ganzer  Macht, 
Girrend  bald  gleich  zarten  Tauben 
Durch  die  dichtverschlungnen  Lauben, 
Bald  mit  langgedehntem  Schall 
Lockend  gleich  der  Nachtigall, 
Dass  die  Liifte  schweigend  horchten 
Und  das  Laub  der  regen  Espe 
Seine  Regsamkeit  vergass  (IV,  21). 

In  response  to  her  cry  of  distress,  when  attacked  by  the  robbers,  a 
young  man  springs  forth- from  the  thicket  near  by,  a  sword  in  his 
right  hand,  in  his  left  a  lute.  The  dreamer  who,  just  a  moment  before, 
had  been  pouring  forth  his  longings  in  the  melancholy  tones  of  the 
lute  is  transformed  suddenly  into  a  veritable  tiger  who,  single-handed 

1  Cf.  Wyplel,  "Byron  and  Grillparzer,"  Grillparter  Jahrbuch,  XIV,  26  f. 


/; 


28  grillparzer's  attitude  toward  romanticism 

and  almost  without  striking  a  blow,  puts  to  flight  a  whole  band  of 
murderers.     Such  is  Jaromir — a  man  of  moods. 

A  man  with  a  temperament  like  this  is,  as  one  would  naturally 
expect,  ruled  by  his  impulses.  Although  in  danger  of  betraying 
himself  to  the  soldiers  who  are  seeking  him,  he  defends  most  warmly 
against  the  Hauptmann  the  robbers,  in  whom  he  sees  fallen  brothers. 
Again  when  he  hears  the  conflict  going  on  between  his  men  and  the 
soldiers,  heedless  of  the  fact  that  he  is  not  only  risking  his  own  life, 
but  also  the  happiness  of  Bertha  and  the  honor  of  Count  Borotin 
who  has  received  him  into  his  house  and  has  even  consented  to 
an  alliance  with  his  daughter,  the  warlike  instinct  within  him,  the 
joy  of  battle  takes  possession  of  him  and  he  rushes  headlong  into  the 
,  fray.  Throughout  the  whole  play  he  is  represented  as  yielding  to 
wild  impulses.  He  is  a  law  unto  himself,  a  man  who  is  not  willing  to 
submit  even  to  the  laws  of  nature,  much  less  to  human  law.  Even 
after  he  learns  that  Bertha  is  his  sister  his  passion  for  her  will 
brook  no  check:1 

Sie  muss  ich,  ja  sie  besitzen, 
Mag  der  Himmel  Rache  blitzen, 
Mag  die  Holle  Flammen  spriihn 
Und  mit  Schrecken  sie  umziehn. 
Wie  der  tolle  Wahn  sie  heisse, 
Weib  und  Gattin  heisst  sie  hier 
Und  durch  tausend  Donner  reisse 
Ich  die  Teure  her  zu  mir  (IV,  nS). 

"Alle  Glieder  des  Hauses  Borotin,"  writes  Alfred  Klaar,2  "werden 
von  Stimmung  und  Trieb  beherrscht,  all  ihr  Tun  ist  von  der  Hast 
der  Leidenschaft  eingegeben,  all  ihr  Hoffen  ist  ein  Begehren,  das  fur 
todgeweihte,  trotzige  Naturen  typisch  ist." 

The  instinctive  love  which  takes  possession  of  both  Bertha  and 
Jaromir,  almost  before  theyhave  rightly  seen  each  other,  is  a  favorite 
theme  with  Grillparzer.  In  Sappho  the  love  between  Phaon  and 
Melitta  is,  to  be  sure,  of  a  slower  growth  but  it  is  none  the  less  instinc- 

1  Jaromir  is  a  parallel  character  to  Eusebio  in  Calderon's  Devotion  de  la  Cruz. 
Cf.  Eusebio's  words  to  his  sister  Julia: 

Trotz  des  Himmels  Schirm  und  Walten 

Julia  muss  ich  dich  besitzen  (Reclam,  Leipzig,  38). 

2  Grillparzer s  Leben  und  Schaffen  (Berlin,  1903),  51. 


THE  CHARACTERS  29 

tive.  The  banquet  scene,  at  which  Melitta  is  described  as  having 
spilled  on  the  floor  the  wine  which  she  was  to  present  to  Phaon 
(IV,  159),  was  not  calculated,  according  to  the  author's  own  statement, 
to  excite  love  but  served  merely  "die  Aufmerksamkeit  des  jungen 
Paares  aufeinander  rege  zu  machen  und  sie  in  jenen  Zustand  des 
Beruhrtseins  zu  bringen,  das  der  Liebe  den  Weg  bereitet"  (XVIII, 
177).  While  it  is  true  that  the  young  people  are  not  yet  conscious  of 
love,  they  have  nevertheless  been  much  impressed  by  each  other. 
Phaon  becomes  dreamy  and  melancholy  and  leaves  the  feast  to  seek 
solitude  for  his  conflicting  thoughts.  His  feelings  are  confused  and 
he  tries  to  make  clear  to  himself  the  significance  of  the  various  events 
of  the  past  few  days.  Sappho's  love  does  not  entirely  satisfy  him.  He 
thinks  longingly  of  his  parents  whom  he  has  left  in  ignorance  of  his 
fate,  and  of  something  else  which  he  does  not  mention — possibly  the 
little  slave  girl  who  acted  so  strangely  at  the  banquet.  Melitta,  too, 
is  filled  with  indefinite  longings.  The  handsome  stranger  has  made 
a  very  deep  impression  upon  her,  although  as  yet  she  is  but  half,  if 
at  all,  conscious  of  the  real  significance  of  their  meeting.  In  her 
soliloquy  and  in  the  following  conversation  with  Phaon  she  gives 
expression  to  her  aspirations.  Her  longings  for  her  native  land  are  in 
reality  only  the  form  which  her  desire  for  love  assumes.  She  feel$\ 
that  she  is  a  stranger  in  the  land  of  her  adoption;  she  is  pitied  but  V 
not  loved.  It  is  the  desire  for  love  which  makes  her  recall  her  happy 
childhood,  passed  in  a  land  the  very  name  of  which  she  has  forgotten  j 
and  which  is  known  to  her  only  by  its  flowers  and  valleys.  It  is  they 
land,  she  believes,  from  where  the  sun  comes,  an  ideal  land,  embody- 
ing all  her  ideals  of  love  and  of  the  lovely : 

Von  andern  Baumen  war  ich  dort  umgeben, 

Und  andre  Blumen  dufteten  umher, 

In  blauen  Liiften  glanzten  schonre  Sterne, 

Und  freundlich  gute  Menschen  wohnten  dort  (IV,  162). 

Melitta  here  gives  expression  to  the  same  desire  for  love  and  happiness 
which  we  find  expressed  by  Goethe's  Mignon. 

Even  after  the  rose  scene  in  which  Phaon  kisses  her,  Melitta  is 
not  fully  conscious  of  love,  but  it  is  clear  that  the  feeling  is  growing 
within  her.  She  even  displays  a  tinge  of  jealousy  when  he  asks  her 
for  one  of  the  roses  which  have  been  picked  for  Sappho: 


30  grillparzer's  attitude  toward  romanticism 

Wie  ?  diese  hier, 
Die  jene  wilden  Madchen  dort  gepfliickt, 
Sie,  die  bestimmt  fur — Nimmermehr!     (IV,  166). 

The  rose  which  she  gives  him  in  return  for  his  gift  must  be  picked 
by  her  own  hands.  Her  following  actions  are  represented  as  being 
perfectly  instinctive  and  without  any  thought  of  love.  She  feels 
very  happy,  but  does  not  stop  to  consider  why  she  feels  so.  She 
bathes  in  the  brook  and  goes  back  to  the  house  singing.  There  she 
dresses  herself  carefully  but  simply  and  appears  so  beautiful  as  to 
even  call  forth  an  exclamation  of  approval  from  the  lips  of  the  jealous 
Sappho.  Throughout  the  whole  scene,  however,  she  appears  uncon- 
scious of  any  reason  why  she  should  have  done  all  these  things. 
When  Sappho  asks  her  why  she  considers  this  a  day  for  celebration, 
she  replies: 

Warum  ? — Ei  nu,  dass  du  zuriickgekehrt, 

Dass  du — ich  weiss  nicht  recht,  doch  frohlich  bin  ich  (IV,  182). 

Sappho  of  course  thinks  that  she  is  dissimulating,  but  nothing  is 
further  from  MelittaVmind  than  the  intention  to  deceive.  When  she 
states  that  her  age  is  sixteen  instead  of  fifteen  this  also  is  done  quite 
unconsciously.  She  becomes  fully  conscious  of  her  love  for  the  first 
time  when  Sappho  demands  from  her  the  rose  which  she  has  received 
as  a  memento  from  Phaon.  Then  only  does  she  realize  what  this 
small  token  means  to  her  and  she  would  rather  die  than  part  with  it. 
Phaon  is  also  represented  as  being  only  half  conscious  of  his  feelings 
toward  Melitta.  Grillparzer  has  himself  expressed  his  purpose  here 
when  he  stated:  "Selbst  als  er  Melitten  schon  gekusst  hat,  ist  ihm 
seine  neue  Leidenschaft  noch  nicht  klar,  erst  Sapphos  Aeusserung 
bei  der  Erzahlung  seines  Traumes  hellt  ihn  auf,  und  seine  Liebe  tritt 
heraus  als  er  Melitten  vor  Sapphos  Dolche  schutzt"  (XVIII,  177). 
When  Sappho  wakes  him  from  the  sleep  in  which  such  beautiful 
dreams  have  hovered  about  him  he  cannot  understand  why  she  is 
so  sad: 

Du  bist  so  triib!    Was  fehlt  dir?    Ich  bin  froh  (IV,  175). 

He  is  filled  with  a  feeling  of  happiness  which  surpasses  anything  that 
he  has  hitherto  experienced.  The  sun  seems  to  shine  more  brightly 
than  usual,  the  sea  is  more  sparkling,  all  nature  is  radiant  with  a 


THE  CHARACTERS  3 1 

heavenly  beauty,  and  everything  speaks  to  him  of  love.  He  even 
feels  more  kindly  toward  Sappho  than  ever  before: 

Und  glaube  mir,  ich  war  dir  nie  so  gut, 

So  wahrhaft,  Sappho,  gut,  als  eben  jetzt  (IV,  176). 

That  it  is  love  which  has  wrought  this  great  change  in  him  is  clear, 
but  his  confused  dream  shows  that  he  is  not  yet  perfectly  conscious 
that  Melitta  is  the  object  of  it  all.  He  is  indeed  greatly  startled  when 
Sappho  bursts  in  with  the  word  "  Melitta !" 

Fast  hast  du  mich  erschreckt! — Wer  sagte  dir, 

Dass  sie  es  war? — Ich  wusst'  es  selber  kaura!     (IV,  177). 

Not  until  he  is  called  upon  to  defend  Melitta's  life  against  her  mistress 
does  he  realize  clearly  his  feelings  toward  her  and  he  bursts  forth 
in  bitter  reproach  against  Sappho  (IV,  187,  188). 

Medea,  too,  betrays  much  of  the  same  instinctiveness  in  her  rela- 
tions with  Jason  which  has  been  noted  in  the  case  of  Bertha  and 
Jaromir  and  of  Phaon  and  Melitta.  Here  again,  as  with  so  many 
of  Grillparzer's  characters,  it  is  love  at  first  sight.  She  first  meets 
Jason  in  the  tower  into  which  he  has  forced  an  entry  and  is  drawn  to 
him  irresistibly.  When  her  brother  rushes  in  with  his  followers  and 
is  about  to  throw  himself  upon  the  intruder  she  instinctively  restrains 
him  and  thus  gives  the  enemy  of  her  country  a  chance  to  escape. 
Jason  is  quick  to  observe  the  solicitude  for  his  safety  which  she  has 
unconsciously  betrayed : 

Du  sorgst  um  mich?    Hab  Dank,  du  holdes  Wesen! 
Nicht  fur  die  Hilfe,  ich  bedarf  sie  nicht, 
Fur  diese  Sorge  Dank  (V,  54). 

The  silent  workings  of  this  new  love,  of  which  she  is  still  uncon- 
scious, is  seen  in  the  wonderful  softening  of  Medea's  whole  nature. 
When  one  of  her  maidens  informs  her,  with  fear  and  trembling,  that 
her  favorite  horse  is  missing,  instead  of  giving  way  to  rage,  as  was  her 
wont,  she  answers  gently:  "Es  ist  gut"  (V,  57).  Peritta,  who  had 
previously  been  driven  out  of  her  presence  in  disgrace  because  she 
had  yielded  to  feelings  of  love,  is  now  welcomed  as  a  dear  friend  for 
whose  misfortunes  she  evinces  deep  concern.  And  yet  she  is  not 
fully  conscious  of  the  reason  of  this  change  which  has  come  over  her; 


32  grillparzer's  attitude  TOWARD  romanticism 

she  still  believes  that  the  midnight  visitor  in  the  tower  was  the  god 
Heimdar. 

When  at  last  she  is  forced  to  believe  that  it  was  Jason,  the  Greek, 
who  had  visited  her  and  who  had  been  so  bold  as  to  kiss  her,  she  is 
filled  with  a  sense  of  injured  dignity  and  in  a  flash  of  anger  declares 
herself  ready  to  avenge  the  insult: 

Gebeut! 
Willst  du  vernichten  die  Schar  der  Frevler, 
Sage  nur,  wie,  ich  bin  bereit  (V,  63). 

Despite  her  desire  for  revenge,  however,  when  Jason  is  about  to  drink 
of  the  poisoned  cup  which  she  is  presenting  to  him  at  the  command 
of  her  father,  she  is  once  more  overcome  by  an  uncontrollable  feeling 
and  instinctively  warns  him  that  destruction  lurks  in  the  wine  (V,  75). 
All  through  the  following  scene  Medea  is  struggling  against  her 
instincts.  Like  Bertha  in  the  Ahnjrau  she  feels  that  she  ought  to 
detest  him  whom  she  cannot  help  loving.  She  calls  her  father  and 
brother  to  arms  that  the  invaders  may  all  be  slain  or  driven  away, 
and  yet  she  wavers  when  her  father  demands  that  she  shall  accompany 
him  on  the  work  of  destruction.  It  is  her  earnest  wish  to  avoid  what 
she  feels  to  be  the  voice  of  destiny.  She  therefore  beseeches  her  father 
to  send  her  away  into  the  interior,  far  into  the  woods  and  dark  ravines, 
where  no  eye  can  penetrate  and  no  voice  disturbs  the  solitude.  There 
she  will  abide  and  pray  to  the  gods  for  victory.  She  cannot  trust 
herself  so  long  as  she  is  in  the  neighborhood  of  Jason.  Like  the  roman- 
ticists she  feels  that  she  is  not  free  in  her  actions,  feels  that  there  is  a 
force  of  fate  within  her  which  keeps  driving  her  on  in  spite  of 
herself: 

Man  sagt — und  ich  fiihle,  es  ist  so: 

Es  gibt  ein  Etwas  in  des  Menschen  Wesen, 

Das  unabhangig  von  des  Eigners  Willen, 

Anzieht  und  abstosst  mit  blinder  Gewalt; 

Wie  vom  Blitz  zum  Metall,  vom  Magnet  zum  Eisen, 

Geht  ein  Zug,  ein  geheimnisvoller  Zug 

Vom  Menschen  zum  Menschen,  von  Brust  zu  Brust. 

Da  ist  nicht  Reiz,  nicht  Anmut,  nicht  Tugend,  nicht  Recht, 

Was  kniipft  und  loskniipft  die  zaubrischen  Faden : 

Unsichtbar  geht  der  Neigung  Zauberbriicke, 

So  viel  sie  betraten,  hat  keiner  sie  gesehn ! 


THE  CHARACTERS  33 

Gefallen  muss  dir,  was  dir  gefallt; 

So  weit  ist's  Zwang,  rohe  Naturkraft. 

Doch  steht's  nicht  bei  dir,  die  Neigung  zu  rufen, 

Der  Neigung  zu  folgen  stent  bei  dir, 

Da  beginnt  des  Wollens  sonniges  Reich, 

Undich  will  nicht!     (V,  82). 

Despite  all  her  efforts  to  avoid  Jason,  fate  seems  to  drive  her  into 
his  very  presence.  The  bridges  have  been  washed  away  by  the  storm 
of  the  previous  night  and,  in  order  to  reach  the  place  of  retirement 
to  which  her  brother  is  conducting  her,  she  must  pass  close  to  the  camp 
of  the  Greeks.  The  party  is  surprised  by  Jason  and  Medea  is  made 
prisoner.  In  desperation  she  seizes  spear  and  shield  and  rushes  upon 
Jason  with  the  cry:  "Kill  or  die!',  When  her  spear  is  shattered  she 
draws  a  dagger,  but  she  is  helpless  against  him.  Casting  away  his 
arms,  he  lays  his  life  in  her  hands  and  challenges  her  to  kill  him  if  she 
can.  She  stands  before  him  powerless  and  although  she  struggles 
long  against  the  love  which  draws  her  to  him  she  finally  forsakes 
father  and  country  and,  bearing  with  her  the  parental  curse,  follows 
him. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  trilogy  Medea's  natural  feelings  burst  forth 
from  time  to  time1  although  she  tries  to  keep  her  passions  under  con- 
trol as  much  as  possible.  When  she  sees  herself  rebuffed  on  every 
side,  however,  her  old  nature  gains  the  upperhand  and  she  yields 
blindly  to  the  impulse  to  revenge  herself  on  those  who  have  made 
her  life  unbearable: 

Gora.  Was  also  sinnest  du  ? 

Medea.     Ich  geb'  mir  Miihe,  nichts  zu  wollen,  zu  denken; 

Ob  den  schweigenden  Abgrund 

Brute  die  Nacht!     (V,  178). 

There  is  room  for  nothing  in  her  soul  except  the  one  wild  passion  for 
revenge : 

So  viel  weiss  ich,  und  so  viel  ist  mir  klar: 

Unrecht  erduld'  ich  nicht  ungestraft; 

Aber  was  geschieht,  weiss  ich  nicht,  will's  nicht  wissen!     (V,  182). 

Karl  Goedeke2  has  well  described  this  outburst  of  passion  to  which 
Medea  yields:    "Von  alien,  mit  denen  sie  in  Berflhrung  kommt, 

1  Cf.  Grillparzers  samtliche  Werke,  V,  146,  168,  175,  198  f.,  etc. 

*  Grundriss  zur  Geschichte  der  deutschen  Literalur  (Dresden,  1881),  III,  389. 


34  grillparzer's  attitude  toward  romanticism 

wie  ein  grauenvolles  Wesen  gemieden,  von  den  eigenen  Kindern,  die 
sie  mit  liebkosenden  Drohungen  zu  locken  wahnt,  geflohen,  und 
doch  ihrem  Willen  nach  ein  liebendes  Weib,  eine  liebende  Mutter, 
heftig  in  aller  Liebe  und  in  hingebender  Demut,  stets  von  dem  Gefiihl 
ungerecht  erlittenen  Leides  tiberwaltigt,  ist  sie  unfahig  die  stets 
gehauften  Qualen  zu  tragen.  Sie  wirft  die  miihsam  erstrebte  Fassung 
weg  und  mit  ihr  die  Weiblichkeit,  die  Sanftmut,  die  Geduld,  die 
Liebe  zu  dem  Gatten,  und  den  Kindern,  die  Schonung  der  Fremden, 
ja  die  eigene  Schonung  und  giesst  die  gefiillte  Schale  der  Rache  iiber 
alle  die  aus,  um  deren  Duldung  oder  Liebe  sie  vergebens  gerungen, 
unter  deren  Krankung,  Gleichgiiltigkeit,  Hass  und  Verachtung  sie 
unerhort  gelitten  hat." 

/  Again  in  Hero  and  Leander  Grillparzer  has  depicted  two  charac- 
ters who  follow  the  dictates  of  natural  passion.  "Jeder  folgt  mit 
einer  gewissen  Verblendung  der  einseitigen  Richtung  in  welche  sein 
[  Charakter  ihn  der  gegebenen  Situation  gegeniiber  drangt  und  treibt."1 
Her  very  determination  to  become  a  priestess  Hero  confesses  has  been 
due  to  the  promptings  of  an  instinct  of  which  she  has  been  only  half 
conscious: 

Vielmehr  ein  glucklich  Ungefahr  hat  mich, 

Nur  halb  bewusst,  an  diesen  Ort  gebracht  (VII,  12). 

Her  words  are  the  expression  of  her  highest  reason;  her  actions,  on 
the  other  hand,  are  based  entirely  on  feeling  and  instinct.  That  is 
the  case,  for  example,  in  the  dove  scene  (VII,  21,  22).  Hero  has 
declared  her  firm  determination  to  serve  the  goddess  who  is  the  enemy 
of  all  earthly  love.  She  betrays  her  true  instincts,  however,  when 
she  caresses  the  dove  which  the  priest  wishes  to  drive  away  from  the 
precincts  of  the  temple  because  it  symbolizes  earthly  love.  So  it  is 
also  in  her  relations  toward  Leander  which  form  the  central  theme 
of  the  drama. 

On  the  very  morning  on  which  she  was  to  renounce  forever  the 
world  and  human  love  she  is  attracted  by  two  youths  who  are  gazing 

1  W.  Scherer,  Franz  Grillparzer,  Vortrage  und  Aufsatze  zur  Geschichte  des  geistigen 
Lebens  in  Deutschland  und  Oesterreich  (Berlin,  1874),  257;  cf.  also  A.  Sauer,  Akade- 
mische  Festrede  zu  Grillparzers  100.  Geburtstag,  Gesammelte  Reden  u.  Aufsatze  zur 
Gesch.  d.  Lit.  in  Oesterreich  u.  Deutschland  (Wien  und  Leipzig,  1903),  126:  "Audi 
hier  ein  Schicksal,  aber  das  Schicksal  der  unbezwingbaren,  uniiberwindlichen  Neigung." 


THE  CHARACTERS  35 

in  through  the  grated  door  of  the  temple.  One  of  these  is  Leander 
and,  judging  from  her  conversation  with  Janthe  and  her  uncle,  it 
would  seem  that  he  had  made  a  much  deeper  impression  upon 
her  than  she  cares  to  admit  even  to  herself.  At  the  consecration 
ceremony  in  the  temple  this  youth  appears  again  and  as  Hero 
stands  before  the  altar  of  Hymen  their  eyes  meet.  She  stops  short 
in  the  speech  in  which  she  is  about  to  renounce  marriage  and 
forgets  in  her  confusion  the  formula  which  she  ought  to  repeat. 
She  is  visibly  affected  and  before  leaving  the  hall  her  eyes  turn 
instinctively  to  the  spot  where  Leander  is  kneeling  (VII,  29). ■  A 
single  glance  is  sufficient  to  draw  them  together  just  as  is  the  case 
in  Shakspere's  Romeo  and  Juliet,  in  Heinrich  von  Kleist's  Penthesilea 
and  Kathchen  von  Heilbronn,  or  in  Richard  Wagner's2  various  musical 
dramas.  "Die  holde  Leidenschaft  der  Liebe  erbrennt  plotzlich  wie 
Feuer  in  den  Seelen,',  says  Gustav  Freytag3  in  speaking  of  Grillpar- 
zer's  characters,  "sie  erfullt  das  ganze  Sein  der  Menschen,  nur  in 
ihr  ist  fortan  das  wahre  Leben  der  Liebenden,  welche  wie  Begeisterte, 
Traumselige  dahinwandeln."  » 

Hero  does  not  seem  to  be  at  all  conscious  of  love.  Like  the  othei 
characters,  already  discussed,  she  is  perfectly  passive  throughout! 
Her  true  feelings,  however,  betray  themselves  continually  in  her) 
various  actions.  When  she  appears  in  the  second  act  she  is  singing 
to  herself  a  love-song  of  Leda  and  the  swan  while  engaged  in  her 
priestly  duties.  On  becoming  conscious  of  her  action  she  remarks 
that  her  uncle  objects  to  this  song,  but  adds:  "Was  schadet's  nur?" 
(VII,  37).  When  she  sees  Leander  and  Naukleros  in  the  temple 
grove  she  assumes  a  tone  of  dignity  as  priestess  but  gradually  her 

1  In  a  conversation  with  Leander  soon  after  this  incident  Naukleros  draws  his 
friend's  attention  to  Hero's  action  and  divines  its  meaning: 

Da  stockte  sie,  die  Hand  hing  in  der  Luft; 
Nach  dir  hin  schauend,  stand  sie  zogernd  da, 
Ein,  zwei,  drei  kurze,  ewige  Augenblicke. 
Zuletzt  vollbrachte  sie  ihr  heilig  Werk, 
Allein  noch  scheidend  sprach  ein  tiefer  Blick, 
Im  herben  Widerspruch  des  frost'gen  Tages, 
Der  sie  auf  ewiglich  verschliesst  der  Liebe:  (VII,  34). 
3  Cf.  Elsa  and  Lohengrin,  Senta  and  the  Hollander,  Siegmund  and  Sieglinde, 
Siegfried  and  Brunnhilde,  Tristan  and  Isolde,  Eva  and  Walther. 
3  Gesammelte  Werke  (Leipzig,  1886-88),  XVI,  326. 


36  grillparzer's  attitude  toward  romanticism 

natural  feelings  gain  the  upperhand.  She  remains  haughty  so  long 
as  she  is  addressing  Naukleros;  as  soon  as  Leander  speaks,  however, 
she  becomes  much  gentler: 

Du  hast  dich  schlimm  beraten,  guter  Jungling, 

Und  nicht  die  richt'gen  Pfade  ging  dein  Herz  (VII,  38,  39). 

Her  words  betray  pity  for  the  misguided  youth  before  her  and  this 
pity  makes  her  yield  gradually  to  Naukleros'  entreaties.  To  his 
request  to  be  seated  she  replies:  "Es  ziemt  sich  nicht,"  but  when 
urged  to  do  so  for  Leander's  sake  she  finally  consents.  Although 
she  declares  her  intention  to  remain  true  to  the  vows  which  she  has 
made  there  is  an  unmistakable  tone  of  regret  in  her  speech,  when  she 
says:  "Noch  gestern,  wenn  ihr  kamt,  da  war  ich  frei,"  and  when  she 
advises  Leander  in  the  words: 

Gonn  einem  andern  Weibe  deinen  Blick 

Und  freu  dich  dessen,  was  uns  hier  versagt  (VII,  40). 

When  Leander  throws  himself  at  her  feet  she  is  not  really  offended 
/  but  questions  the  propriety  of  his  act  under  the  circumstances. 
J  Throughout  the  whole  scene  she  has  been  yielding  but  she  first 

becomes  conscious  of  the  fact  when  she  sees  her  uncle  approaching — 

Er  wird  mich  schelten, 
Und  zwar  mit  Recht,  warum  gab  ich  euch  nach?     (VII,  41). 

On  being  asked  by  her  uncle  what  she  is  doing  here,  she  instinctively 
says  what  is  not  true  in  order  to  shield  Leander: 

Sieh  nur!  ein  kranker  Mann  (VII,  41). 

According  as  Hero's  instincts  gain  the  upperhand,  her  enthusiasm 
for  the  priestly  office  diminishes.  "  Hier  also,  hier !"  is  the  only  reply 
she  vouchsafes  to  her  uncle's  description  of  the  sublime  life  to  which 
she  has  been  called.  Her  indifference  to  his  enthusiastic  words 
makes  him  remark  that  she  must  be  dreaming.  Now  that  she  has 
gained  the  height  of  her  ambition  he  is  surprised  to  find  her  silent  and 
cold.  Indeed  a  great  change  has  come  over  Hero.  She  is  no  longer 
so  confident  of  the  absoluteness  of  her  will  as  she  was  in  the  first  act, 
before  she  met  Leander  (cf.  VII,  12).  Like  Medea  she  has  been 
forced  to  recognize  a  something  in  her  life  which,  independent  of  will, 
attracts  and  repels  with  blind  force.     She  feels  that  there  is  a 


THE  CHARACTERS  37 

force  working  within  her  of  which  she  is  but  half  conscious  and  which 
she  is  powerless  to  control: 

Du  weisst,  mein  Ohm,  wir  sind  nicht  immer  Herr 

Von  Stimmungen,  die  kommen,  wandeln,  gehn, 

Sich  selbst  erzeugend  und  von  nichts  gefolgt  (VII,  46). 

She  hopes,  however,  to  attain  in  retirement  that  composure  which 
is  lacking  at  present,  ^n  place  of  her  former  enthusiasm  for  her 
office  there  remains  only  a  sense  of  duty. 

Although  the  idea  of  love  has  not  yet  clearly  formulated  itself  in 
Hero's  mind,  she  nevertheless  feels  attracted  to  Leander  and  con- 
fesses that,  if  she  were  not  a  priestess  consecrated  to  the  service  of 
the  goddess,  he  might  possibly  find  favor  in  her  eyes.  She  checks 
herself  immediately,  however,  for  what  men  call  Neigung  is  something 
which  must  be  avoided  by  her.  She  is  glad  that  Leander  is  away 
and  congratulates  herself  that  she  can  now  forget  the  whole  affair. 
And  yet  she  is  restless;  everything  about  her  seems  so  empty  and 
lonely.  Her  thoughts  revert  constantly  to  the  youth  on  the  other  side 
of  the  Hellespont  and  she  expresses  the  hope  that  her  lamp  may,  like 
a  star,  shine  through  the  night  to  the  distant  shore.  Once  more  she 
hums  the  love-song  of  Leda  and  the  swan  and  wonders  why  it  is  that 
this  song  is  always  recurring  to  her.  Like  the  romanticists  she 
would  like  to  express  her  thoughts  in  music: 

Gedanken,  bunt 
Und  wirr,  durchkreuzen  meinen  Sinn, 
In  Tonen  losten  leichter  sie  sich  auf  (VII,  50). 

Leander  is  still  uppermost  in  her  thoughts,  but  she  tries  to  persuade 

herself  that  her  concern  for  him  is  disinterested: 

Ich  will  dir  wohl,  erfreut  doch,  dass  du  fern; 

Und  reichte  meine  Stimme  bis  zu  dir, 

Ich  riefe  grlissend:  gute  Nacht!     (VII,  50). 

The  following  scene  shows  the  gradual  surrender  of  Hero  to  her 
natural  feelings  and  instincts.  She  cannot  help  being  greatly  affected 
by  the  deep  proofs  of  love  which  Leander  has  given  in  swimming 
across  the  Hellespont  and  in  climbing  up  to  her  window,  risking  almost 
certain  death  just  to  see  her  again.  Her  anxiety  for  his  safety  increases 
every  moment.  When  footsteps  are  heard  approaching  and  it  is 
necessary  for  him  to  conceal  himself,  she  hesitates  about  letting  him 


38  grillparzer's  attitude  toward  romanticism 

enter  her  sleeping  apartment  but,  as  the  danger  is  imminent,  she  yields 
even  this  point.  From  now  on  there  is  a  struggle  going  on  within 
her  between  her  sense  of  reason  and  her  feelings  of  duty  on  the  one 
hand  and  her  love  and  natural  instincts  on  the  other.  She  rebukes 
Leander  for  having  destroyed  the  harmony  which  had  hitherto  reigned 
in  her  soul,  but,  realizing  suddenly  the  dangers  which  he  had  braved 
and  those  which  still  lay  before  him,  all  for  love  of  her,  her  feelings 
change  almost  abruptly  and  she  beseeches  him  to  return  home  by 
a  safer  route  than  that  by  which  he  had  come.  And  yet,  in  betraying 
such  an  interest,  she  feels  that  she  is  sinning  against  her  vows  and 
■  forsaking  the  path  of  reason.  It  was  Grillparzer's  intention,  however, 
to  illustrate  here  once  more  his  conviction  that  the  passions  and 
instincts  are  just  as  divine  as  reason.1  The  victory  is  never  in  doubt 
for  a  moment.  Compassion  and  pity  for  Leander  are  followed  by 
anxiety  for  his  safety  and  recognition  of  the  great  sacrifices  which  he 
has  made  for  her  sake.  She  cannot  refuse  his  request  to  visit  her 
again.  At  first  she  proposes  that  he  come  on  the  anniversary  of  this 
festival,  then,  to  his  demand  for  a  nearer  date,  she  suggests  the  even- 
ing of  the  next  full-moon.  When,  however,  Leander  insists  that  all 
these  dates  are  too  far  distant,  she  surrenders  entirely  and  says: 
"Come  tomorrow  then"  (VII,  58).  This  is  the  climax.  Till  now 
/there  has  been  a  conflict  in  her  soul  between  the  natural  passions  and 
I  reason,  between  the  woman  Hero  and  the  priestess.  Her  natural 
\  feelings  have  been  gradually  gaining  ground  all  along  the  line  and 
now  she  yields  absolutely.  When  Leander  demands  a  token  of  her 
love  she  demurs  for  a  moment,  but  only  for  a  moment.  She  is  now 
conscious  of  her  power  and  wishes  to  tantalize  him  a  little : 

Die  Arme  falte  riickwarts, 
Wie  ein  Gefangener,  der  Liebe,  mein  Gefangener  (VII,  59). 

She  too,  however,  is  a  captive. 2 

1  "Der  Trieb,  die  Neigung,  das  Instinktmassige  sind  ebenso  gottlich,  als  die  Ver- 
nunft." — Werke,  XVI,  12.  This,  too,  was  Goethe's  view.  See  Hermann  und  Doro- 
thea, Canto  I,  84-87: 

Dieser  sprach:    "Ich  tadle  nicht  gerne,  was  immer  dem  Menschen 
Fur  unschadliche  Triebe  die  gute  Mutter  Natur  gab; 
Denn  was  Verstand  und  Vernunft  nicht  immer  vermogen,  vermag  oft 
Solch  ein  gliicklicher  Hang,  der  unwiderstehlich  uns  leitet." 

2  The  fragment  Seelengrosse  (XI,  39  f.),  which  Grillparzer  sketched  in  the  year 
1808,  offers  a  parallel  to  Des  Meeres  und  der  Liebe  Wellen  in  the  psychological  develop- 


THE  CHARACTERS  39 

Leander  represents  the  half-conscious,  naive  type  to  which  Phaon 
and  Melitta  belong.  He  is  a  dreamer  who  shows  no  interest  in  the 
life  round  about  him,  a  star-gazer  who  has  lived  a  self-absorbed  life, 
apart  from  all  companions  save  his  mother  and  his  friend,  Naukleros. 
He  had  been  untouched  by  love  until  he  met  Hero.  Now,  however, 
when  he  has  fallen  in  love,  he  does  not  know  what  is  the  matter  with 
him.  He  complains  to  Naukleros  that  he  is  weary  and  sick.  The 
latter,  knowing  his  temperament,  assures  him  that  he  will  feel  all 
right  when  he  is  home  again  in  his  gloomy  hut  on  the  sea-shore,  with 
nothing  but  sand  and  waves  about  him  and  heavy,  threatening  clouds 
overhead.  There  he  will  be  able  to  lie  of  an  evening  in  his  boat, 
floating  idly  on  the  waves  and  gazing  up  into  the  stars,  thinking  of 
spirits,  of  nothing,  thinking  that  he  is  thinking  (VII,  31).  A  tempera- 
ment to  which  such  surroundings  and  such  occupations  are  congenial 
is  surely  romantic.  To  find  satisfaction  in  thinking  that  one  is  think- 
ing is  parallel  to  Friedrich  SchlegeFs  statement:  "Ich  genoss  nicht 
bios,  sondern  ich  fuhlte  und  genoss  den  Genuss";1  it  is  akin  to  the 
process  described  by  Novalis2  when  he  wrote:  "Wir  sind  dem  Auf- 
wachen  nahe,  wenn  wir  traumen  dass  wir  traumen." 

Wrapped  up  in  his  dreams,  Leander  does  not  realize,  according 
to  his  friend's  report,  that  all  the  girls  are  in  love  with  him.  While 
in  the  temple  he  seems  to  have  been  unconscious  of  the  attention  which 
he  attracted  to  himself: 

Nun  frag'  ihn  aber  einer,  was  er  sah  ? 
Ob's  Madchen  waren  oder  wilde  Schwane  ? 
Er  weiss  es  nicht,  er  ging  nur  eben  hin. 
Und  doch  war  er's  nach  dem  sie  alle  blickten. 
Die  Priestrin  selbst  (VII,  33). 

ment  of  natural  passion.  Gianetta,  a  girl  of  seventeen  years,  has  spent  most  of  her  life 
apart  from  the  world  in  a  convent.  Just  as  Hero  was  convinced  that  the  chief  end  of 
her  life  was  to  become  a  priestess  in  the  temple  of  Aphrodite,  so  Gianetta,  in  her  inex- 
perience, had  persuaded  herself  that  she  was  to  be  the  wife  of  the  Marchese  Vercelli, 
an  old  friend  of  her  father  to  whom  she  had  been  betrothed.  She  is,  however,  without 
realizing  it,  attracted  to  her  former  playmate,  Rinaldo  Fiorini,  and  the  purpose  of  the 
play  was  to  show  the  growth  and  final  victory  of  her  natural  feelings  over  her  precon- 
ceived determination.  It  is  quite  possible  that  this  sketch  exercised  some  influence 
on  the  Hero  drama. 

1  Lucinde  (Reclam  No.  320),  5. 

3  Athendums fragment  288. 


40  grillparzer's  attitude  toward  romanticism 

When  Naukleros  assures  him  that  he  is  in  love  he  does  not  believe 
him.     To  him  it  seems  more  like  sickness.1  , 

Was  sprachst  du  ?    Ich  bin  krank.     Es  schmerzt  die  Brust. 

Nicht  etwa  innerlich;  von  aussen,  hier, 

Hart  an  den  Knochen.     Ich  bin  krank,  zum  Tod  (VII,  34). 

According  to  Leander' s  own  account  (VII,  52)  the  swimming  across 
the  Hellespont  was  the  result  of  a  sudden  impulse — not  a  premeditated 
act.  He  was  restless  and  left  his  hut  to  gaze  out  over  the  sea.  Sud- 
denly a  light  gleamed  through  the  darkness,  like  a  last  ray  of  hope. 
The  passion  which  had  been  slumbering  within  his  breast  since  he 
met  Hero,  bursts  forth: 

In  macht'gen  Schlagen  schwoll  empor  mein  Herz, 
Nicht  halten  wollt'  es  mehr  in  seinen  Banden. 

The  light  drew  him  on.  He  rushed  down  to  the  shore  and,  casting 
himself  into  the  sea,  struck  out  for  Sestos. 

/  In  all  his  actions  Leander  is  represented  as  following  blindly 
/and  without  the  least  hesitation  his  natural  impulses.  Naukleros, 
(  fearing  for  his  friend's  safety,  tries  to  restrain  him,  but  all  in  vain. 
Leander,  formerly  timid  and  fearsome,  has  suddenly  become  bold  and 
is  capable  of  deeds  which  make  his  companion  turn  pale.  He  be- 
lieves that  the  gods  have  taken  him  under  their  special  protection 
and  that  in  following  his  instincts  he  is  guided  by  their  wisdom: 

Amor  und  Hymen,  ziehet  ihr  voran, 

Ich  komm',  ich  felg^  und  ware  Tod  der  dritte!     (VII,  80). 

Like  Bertha  and  Jaromir  it  never  occurs  to  him  that  his  love  for  the 
priestess  is  forbidden  and  wrong.  "Er  ist  ein  Naturkind  wie  Hero 
und  handelt  nicht  nach  Maxim  en,  sondern  gehorcht  seinen  natiir- 
lichen  Impulsen.  Seine  Leidenschaft,  der  er  sich  gleichsam  mit 
geschlossenen  Augen  liberlasst,  unfahig  und  ohne  den  Willen  sie  zu 
bemeistern,  treibt  ihn  ins  Verderben."2  In  all  these  respects  he  is 
the  child  of  romanticism. 

Once  more  in  Rahel,  the  Jewess  of  Toledo,  according  to  Scherer3 

1  This  is  similar  to  Grillparzer's  own  experience  related  in  his  Tagebuch  for  the 
year  1808:  "Wenn  ich  Hebe,  liebe  ich  so,  wie  vielleicht  noch  niemand  oder  doch  nur 
sehr  wenige  geliebt  haben;  mein  Gefiihl  lasst  sich  nicht  beschreiben,  mit  nichts  ver- 
gleichen.     Ich  fiihle  wirklich  korperliche  Schmerzen  dabei." — Glossy  und  Sauer,  II,  5. 

2  J.  Schwering,  Franz  Grillparzers  hellenische  Trauerspiele,  177. 

3  Op.  cit.,  278. 


THE  CHARACTERS  41 

"eine  dramatische  Dichtung  vom  ersten  Rang,"  Grillparzer  has 
depicted  a  non-moral  character  who  surrenders  blindly  and  without 
a  thought  to  her  natural  instincts.  The  king  sums  up  her  character 
in  the  last  act,  in  the  words: 

All  was  sie  that,  ging  aus  aus  ihrem  Selbst, 
Urplotzlich,  unverhofft  und  ohne  Beispiel  (IX,  206). 

A  true  child  of  nature,  she  never  stops  to  consider  that  her  love  for  the  ' 
king  is  something  impossible  and  wrong,  but  follows  impulses  which  J 
drive  her  to  her  destruction.  In  her  desire  to  see  the  young  king  she 
is  deaf  to  the  warnings  of  her  father  and  is  indifferent  to  the  law  which 
forbids  Jews  to  be  in  the  royal  gardens  when  the  king  goes  walking. 
Her  impulsive  nature  is  seen  also  in  her  readiness  to  throw  away  a 
valuable  jewel,  should  it  please  her  to  do  so  (IX,  137).  The  ethical 
significance  of  her  acts  does  not  concern  her  in  the  least.  In  this 
regard  she  is  just  the  opposite  of  Donna  Clara  whom  the  king  charac- 
terizes in  the  words:  "  Sittsamkeit  noch  sittlicher  als  Sitte !"  (IX,  143). 
As  a  child  of  feeling  and  impulse  Rahel  passes  quickly  from  one 
mood  to  another.  From  a  light-hearted,  impulsive  creature  she 
becomes  the  very  incarnation  of  terror  when  she  believes  that  she  is 
in  danger  (IX,  145  f.).  To  the  king's  query  as  to  whether  she  is 
always  so  timid  her  sister,  Esther,  replies : 

O  nicht  doch ! 
Sie  war  vor  kurzem  iibermutig  noch 
Und  trotzte,  wollte,  Herr,  dich  sehen  (IX,  148). 

Weeping  and  laughing  seems  to  be  her  normal  condition.     Like  the" 
child  who  forgets  all  its  troubles  as  soon  as  its  attention  is  attracted 
by  some  new  toy,  she  is  carried  away  by  every  new  whim.     Garceran, 
in  whose  charge  the  king  had  left  her,  describes  the  changeableness 
of  her  moods  as  follows: 

Zum  Anfang  war  ein  Weinen  ohne  Mass, 
Allein  die  Zeit  bringt  Trost,  pflegt  man  zu  sagen; 
So  war's  auch  hier.    Vorbei  der  erste  Schreck, 
Fand  Munterkeit,  ja  Scherz  sich  wieder  ein. 
Man  sah  nun  erst  das  schimmernde  Gerat, 
Die  Seide  der  Tapeten  ward  bewundert, 
Des  Vorhangs  Stoff  nach  Ellen  abgeschatzt, 
Man  hat  sich  eingerichtet  und  ist  ruhig  (IX,  153). 


42  grillparzer' s  attitude  toward  romanticism 

The  novelty  of  the  situation  makes  her  forget  her  fears.  Her  former 
exuberance  of  spirits  has  returned.  According  to  her  father's  account 
she  laughs,- dances,  and  sings  like  one  half-mad.  She  has  found  some 
theatrical  costumes  in  her  apartments  and  decks  herself  out  as  queen. 
When  the  king  becomes  offended  at  the  too  great  liberty  which  she 
Jakes  with  his  picture,  her  sister  has  to  explain  that  she  has  no  evil 
design,  as  he  supposes,  but  is  merely  acting  in  accordance  with  her 
^nature: 

Es  kam  ihr  ein,  und  also  that  sie's  eben  (IX,  162). 

Rahel  is,  indeed,  a  strange  mixture  of  the  conscious  and  the  uncon- 
scious. Although  conscious  of  her  beauty  and  of  the  power  which 
she  exercises  over  the  king,  she  is  represented  throughout  as  acting 
in  an  illogical  and  whimsical  manner,  foreign  to  the  character  that 
knows  what  it  wants  and  proceeds  definitely  to  carry  out  its  will. 
She  is  variable  as  nature  itself  and  has  that  in  common  with  the  per- 
sons already  described  that  her  actions  proceed  entirely  from  impulse. 
"Grillparzers  Rahel,"  says  Farinelli,1  "ist  ein  leichtfertiges,  sorgloses 
Geschbpf,  ein  Kind,  das  nur  zu  geniessen  und  nicht  zu  denken  ver- 
mag,  dem  das  Leben  des  Augenblicks  das  ganze  Leben  ist.  Sie  ist 
nur  Instinkt,  nur  Natur." 

King  Alfonso,  while  he  does  not  follow  consistently  his  impulses, 
like  the  other  persons  described,  betrays  nevertheless  at  times 
similar  characteristics.  He  is  so  much  the  slave  of  his  natural  pas- 
sions that  in  his  infatuation  for  the  Jewess  he  forgets  his  wife  and 
child  and  the  welfare  of  his  kingdom.  His  return  to  duty,  moreover, 
is  not  an  act  of  calm  deliberation,  but  a  yielding  to  still  another  sudden 
and  uncontrollable  impulse.  As  he  gazes  on  Rahel's  face,  now  dis- 
figured in  death,  he  sees  something  repellent  in  the  .features  which 
had  hitherto  escaped  his  notice  and  his  rage  against  her  murderers 
is  suddenly  changed  into  recognition  of  his  own  guilt  and  unworthiness. 

Again  in  Herzog  Otto  von  Meran  and  Don  Casar,  Grillparzer  has 
portrayed  two  characters  who  are  ruled  entirely  by  their  passions. 
They  do  not  recognize  any  other  law  than  that  of  their  own  unfettered 
will  and  cannot  bear  to  be'  thwarted  in  any  of  their  plans.  As  true 
romanticists  their  actions  are  the  outcome  of  the  same  philosophy 

1  Grillparzer  und  Lope  de  Vega,  155. 


THE  CHARACTERS  43 

of  life  which  William  Lovell  enunciated  in  the  words:  "Ich  selbst 
bin  das  einzige  Gesetz  in  der  ganzen  Natur,  diesem  Gesetz  gehorcht 
alles."1 

Probably  the  most  extreme  case  in  all  of  Grillparzer's  dramas  \ 
of  a  character  who  follows  his  instincts  purely  and  simply  is  that  of 
Galomir  in  the  comedy,  Weh  dem,  der  liigt.  Galomir,  indeed,  is 
represented  as  being  little  higher  than  a  Ipeast  in  the  intellectual  scale. 
The  result  was  that  the  actor  who  played  this  part  on  the  occasion  of 
the  first  presentation  of  the  piece  represented  him  as  an  idiot — a 
proceeding  which  contributed  not  a  little  to  the  ill-success  of  the  play 
and  drew  forth  the  censure  of  the  author.  Grillparzer  did  not  intend 
Galomir  to  be  represented  as  stupid,  but  merely  as  following  his 
animal  instincts.  "Galomir/'  he  writes,2  "ist  so  wenig  dumm  als 
die  Tiere  dumm  sind;  sie  denken  nur  nicht.  Galomir  kann  darum 
nicht  sprechen,  weil  er  auch  nicht  denkt;  das  wiirde  ihn  aber  nicht 
hindern,  z.B.  in  der  Schlacht  den  rechten  Angriffspunkt  instinkt- 
massig  recht  gut  herauszufinden.  Er  ist  tierisch,  aber  nicht  blod- 
sinnig"  (XVIII,  197). 

In  depicting  characters  who  do  not  act  with  definite  purpose  and 
premeditated  design,  but  who  are  ruled  by  instincts  and  impulses 
over  which  they  have  no  control  and  of  which  they  are  only  half 
conscious,  Grillparzer  has  much  in  common  with  the  romantic  drama- 
tist, Heinrich  von  Kleist.3 

In  Kleist's  Kathchen  von  Heilbronn4  we  have  a  character  who  is 
ultra  romantic  in  her  nature.  She  is  so  much  the  slave  of  her  impulses 
that  her  father  believes  that  the  Graf  von  Strahl  must  have  exercised 
some  magic  power  over  her  and  accuses  him  to  that  effect  before  the 
Vehme.  As  soon  as  she  sets  eyes  on  the  count  in  her  father's  work- 
shop she  is  smitten  with  an  inexplicable  love  and,  letting  fall  the 

*  Tiecks  Schrijten  (Berlin,  1826-46),  VI,  179. 

3  Cf.  also  Wilhelm  von  Wartenegg,  Erinnerungen  an  Franz  Grillparzer:  Frag- 
mente  aus  Tagebuchblattern  (Wien,  1901),  51. 

3  Grillparzer  was  familiar  with  the  works  of  Kleist  and  characterized  their  author 
as  "ein  nicht  genug  zu  preisendes  Talent." — A.  Foglar,  Grillparzers  Ansichten  iiber 
Lit.,  Biihne  und  Leben  (Stuttgart,  1891),  12.  Cf.  also  Werke,  XVIII,  87;  Wilhelm  von 
Wartenegg,  op.  cit.,  35. 

4  Das  Kathchen  von  Heilbronn  was  first  played  in  the  Theater  an  der  Wien,  March 
17,  18,  and  19,  1810. 


44  grillparzer's  attitude  toward  romanticism 

tray  which  she  is  carrying,  she  folds  her  hands  as  in  prayer  and 
falls  down  prostrate  before  him.  Soon  afterward,  when  the 
count  mounts  his  horse  and  is  about  to  take  his  leave,  she  springs 
from  a  window  thirty  feet  above  the  ground,  like  one  bereft  of  her 
senses.  For  weeks  she  lies  at  death's  door,  but  as  soon  as  she  recovers 
from  the  long  and  weary  illness  occasioned  by  her  mad  act,  she  for- 
sakes father,  home,  and  her  betrothed  to  follow  the  count. 

The  similarity  between  Kleist's  Kathchen  and  some  of  Grillparzer's 
personages  is  quite  striking.  Her  act  in  letting  fall  the  tray  when  she 
first  meets  the  Graf  von  Strahl  reminds  one  of  Melitta's  conduct  at 
the  banquet  where  she  spills  on  the  floor  the  wine  which  she  is  about 
to  present  to  Phaon.  With  both  it  is  a  case  of  attraction  at  first  sight. 
Again  the  impulse  which  causes  Kathchen  to  cast  herself  from  the 
window  in  order  to  follow  the  count  is  not  unlike  that  which  induces 
Leander  to  cast  himself  into  the  sea  in  order  to  join  Hero.  Both  are 
irresistibly  impelled  by  some  power  of  which  they  are  but  half  con- 
scious and  which  they  follow  blindly.  In  this  regard,  too,  parallels 
might  be  drawn  between  Kathchen  and  Grillparzer's  Medea  and 
Bertha.  Just  as  Medea  and  Bertha  feel  themselves  inevitably  attracted 
to  Jason  and  Jaromir  and  are  prepared  to  cut  the  ties  which  bind  them 
to  home  and  country  in  order  to  remain  true  to  the  feeling  of  love  which 
holds  them  captive,  so  Kathchen,  in  her  infatuation  for  the  count,  for- 
sakes all  and  follows  him. 

— n  Equally  irresistible  and  inexplicable  is  the  manner  of  Penthesilea's 
attraction  to  Achilles.  The  Greeks  stand  before  the  queen  of  the 
Amazons: 

Gedankenvoll  auf  einen  Augenblick, 
Sieht  sie  in  unsre  Schaar,  von  Ausdruck  leer, 
Als  ob  in  Stein  gehau'n  wir  vor  ihr  stunden; 
Hier  diese  flache  Hand,  versichr'  ich  dich, 
1st  ausdrucksvoller  als  ihr  Angesicht: 
Bis  jetzt  ihr  Aug*  auf  den  Peliden  trifft: 
Und  Glut  ihr  plotzlich,  bis  zum  Hals  hinab, 
Das  Antlitz  farbt,  als  schluge  rings  um  ihr 
Die  Welt  in  helle  Flammenlohe  auf.1 

This  feeling  for  Achilles,  however,  appears  to  her  to  be  an  enemy 

1  H.  von  Kleist,  Samtliche  Werke,  herausgegeben  von  Th.  Zolling,  D.N.L.,  2. 
Teil,  287. 


THE  CHARACTERS  45 

within  her  own  breast.  She  considers  it  a  weakness  and  a  disgrace 
for  the  queen  of  the  Amazons  to  be  the  captive  of  love,  and  the  fact 
that  she  feels  herself  powerless  against  this  attraction  makes  her  rage 
all  the  more  against  the  Greeks  and  especially  against  him  whom  she 
knows  to  be  the  cause  of  her  weakness: 

Oft,  aus  der  sonderbaren  Wut  zu  schliessen, 
Mit  welcher  sie,  im  Kampfgewuhl,  den  Sohn 
Der  Thetis  sucht,  scheint's  uns,  als  ob  ein  Hass 
Personlich  wider  ihn  die  Brust  ihr  fullte  (p.  290). 

And  yet,  when  the  fortune  of  war  has  placed  his  life  within  her  power, 
she  yields  to  a  sudden  impulse  and  spares  him: 

Doch  jiingst,  in  einem  Augenblick,  da  schon 

Sein  Leben  war  in  ihre  Macht  gegeben, 

Gab  sie  es  lachelnd,  ein  Geschenk,  ihm  wieder: 

Er  stieg  zum  Orkus,  wenn  sie  ihn  nicht  hielt  (p.  291). 

Indeed  throughout  the  whole  play  Penthesilea  is  described  as 
yielding  blindly  to  her  passions.  Pride  and  love  are  struggling  within 
her  for  the  mastery.  Impelled  by  a  feeling  of  injured  pride,  she  is 
determined  to  humble  the  haughty  Greek  who  has  brought  discord 
into  her  soul: 

Ich  will  zu  meiner  Fiisse  Staub  ihn  sehen, 
Den  Uebermiitigen,  der  mir  an  diesem 
Glorwurd'gen  Schlachtentag,  wie  keiner  noch, 
Das  kriegerische  Hochgefuhl  verwirrt  (p.  313). 

She  rebukes  Meroe  for  being  a  captive  of  love,  and  yet  she  must  con- 
fess that,  even  when  she  is  fighting  against  Achilles,  she  is  yielding 
to  similar  feelings: 

Was  will  ich  denn,  wenn  ich  das  Schwert  ihm  ziicke  ? 
Will  ich  ihn  denn  zum  Orkus  niederschleudern  ? 
Ich  will  ihn  ja,  ihr  ew'gen  Gotter!  nur 
An  diese  Brust  will  ich  ihn  niederziehn!  (p.  337). 

In  the  conflict  with  the  Pelide  Penthesilea  is  vanquished  and  is 
dragged  off  unconscious  by  her  maidens.  But  in  the  moment  of 
victory  Achilles  is  filled  with  a  violent  passion  for  her  and  declares 
himself  her  prisoner.  He  is,  however,  only  the  prisoner  of  love  and 
insists  that  she  shall  accompany  him  to  Phthia  and  become  his  queen. 
When  she  is  rescued  by  the  Amazons  he  challenges  her  to  a  new  com- 


46  grillparzer's  attitude  toward  romanticism 

bat,  intending  to  yield  voluntarily  and  submit  to  her  will.  Her  love, 
however,  is  now  turned  into  a  wild,  uncontrollable  fury  which  devours 
everything  that  comes  in  its  way.  The  Amazons  strive  in  vain  to 
restrain  her.  Unconscious  of  what  she  is  doing,  she  draws  her  bow 
against  Achilles  who  stands  defenseless  before  her  and,  rushing  upon 
him  with  her  dogs,  stills  her  rage  in  his  blood. 

Schwering1  has  pointed  out  the  main  points  of  similarity  between 
Kleist's  Penthesilea  and  Grillparzer's  Medea.  Both  fall  in  love 
instinctively  and  in  spite  of  themselves.  In  both  there  takes  place 
a  vain  struggle  against  the  passion  which  has  gained  possession  of 
them.  Penthesilea  rages  against  the  Greeks  and  especially  against 
Achilles;  Medea,  like  so  many  of  Grillparzer's  characters,  would  fain 
retire  and  avoid  what  she  feels  she  cannot  resist.  Both,  again,  act 
from  impulses  which  run  counter  to  their  preconceived  resolves. 
Medea  has  sworn  to  be  revenged  on  Jason  for  the  insult  which  he 
inflicted  upon  her  in  the  tower,  but  instinctively  warns  him  when  he 
is  about  to  drink  of  the  poisoned  cup;  Penthesilea  spares  Achilles 
when  it  lies  in  her  power  to  subdue  him.  Both,  finally,  follow 
blindly  the  dictates  of  wild  passion  and  kill  that  which  they  love 
best. 

Once  more,  in  Prince  Friedrich  von  Homburg,  Kleist  has  drawn 
a  character  who  is  ruled  by  his  impulses.  He  has  already  been  the 
cause  of  two  defeats,  just  on  this  account,  and  the  Kurfurst  warns 
him  on  the  eve  of  the  third  battle  to  be  calm.  The  prince,  however, 
is  depicted  as  acting  under  a  kind  of  somnambulistic  influence. 
Although  commanded  to  maintain  his  position  till  he  receives  orders 
to  attack,  he  yields  to  a  sudden  impulse  and  has  the  charge  sounded. 
In  vain  do  his  fellow-officers  remind  him  that  he  ought  to  wait  for 
orders: 

Auf  Ordr'  ?  Ei,  Kottwitz!  Reitest  du  so  langsam? 
Hast  du  sie  noch  vom  Herzen  nicht  empfangen  ?2 

He  is  sentenced  to  death  for  disobedience,  but  believes  that  the  Kur- 
furst is  only  playing  the  part  of  a  Brutus.  When  he  is  asked  on  what 
grounds  he  bases  his  hopes  of  security,  he  replies:   "Auf  mein  Gefiihl 

1  Fr.  Grillparzers  hellenische  Trauerspiele  (Paderborn,  1891),  96  f. 
*  H.  von  Kleist,  Samtliche  Werke,  D.N.L.,  3.  Teil,  313. 


THE  CHARACTERS  47 

von  ihm!"  (p  336). "  When,  however,  he  is  at  last  convinced  that  he 
is  in  real  danger,  he  gives  way  entirely  to  feelings  which  seem  unworthy 
in  one  who  has  acted  so  bravely  on  the  field  of  battle,  and  is  willing 
to  sacrifice  fame  and  everything  else  to  save  his  life.  In  the  end,  to 
be  sure,  he  gains  the  mastery  over  this  feeling,  but  throughout  the 
play  he  is  "zerstreut,  geteilt,"  a  dreamer  who  follows  blindly  the  intui- 
tions of  his  heart. 

The  absolute  surrender  to  one's  natural  impulses  was  the  doctrine 
of  Rousseau,  of  the  Storm  and  Stress,  and  of  romanticism.  To  the 
romanticists  Personality  was  the  all-important  thing,  the  Ego  was  the 
supreme  law  of  life.  The  ultimate  nature  of  things,  they  believed, 
was  revealed,  not  through  Reason  as  the  rationalists  claimed,  but 
through  Feeling.2  It  will  be  found,  therefore,  that  romantic  charac- 
ters usually  follow  blindly  their  instincts,  irrespective  of  all  other 
considerations,  moral  or  conventional.  Conscience,  to  them,  works 
through  feeling  and,  therefore,  in  surrendering  to  their  feelings  they 
believe  that  they  are  obeying  the  highest  law*  of  their  nature.  Like 
the  prince  of  Homburg  they  take  orders  "from  the  heart"  and  base 
their  hopes  on  their  "Gefuhl": 

Denn  etwas  giebt's,  das  uber  alles  Wahnen 
Und  Wissen  hoch  erhaben — das  Gefiihl.3 

The  praise  of  instinctive  action  is  found  everywhere  in  the  works 
of  the  romanticists.  "Das  ist  es  eben,"  we  read  in  Tieck's  Dichter- 
leben,4  "das  ist  das  Herrlichste  dabei,  dass  du  nur  so  hinhandeltest, 

1  Hero's  words  to  the  priest  in  Des  Metres  und  der  Liebe  Wellen  offer  themselves 
for  comparison  with  this  answer  of  the  prince: 
Priester.  Bist  du  so  sicher  des  ? 
Hero.  Ich  bin  es,  Herr ! 

Auf  Zeugnis  einer  seligen  Empfindung, 

Die  mich  durchstromt 

and  again: 

Priester.  Doch  wie  erweisest  du's  ? 

Hero.  Ich  glaub'  es  so. 

Priester.  Auf  ein  Gefuhl  audi  ? 

Hero.  Audi  auf  ein  Gefuhl  (VII,  84). 

a  "  Gefuhl  scheint  das  Erste,  Reflexion  das  Zweite  zu  seyn,"  writes  Novalis  (Schrif- 
ten,  herausgegeben  von  Heilborn,  II,  ii,  589),  and  in  the  Lehrlinge  tu  Sais  we  read: 
"Das  Denken  ist  nur  ein  Traum  des  Ftihlens,  ein  erstorbenes  Fuhlen,  ein  blassgraues, 
schwaches  Leben"  (ibid.,  I,  230). 

3  "Die  Familie  Schroffenstein,"  Kleists  sdmUiche  Werke,  D.N.L.,  1.  Teil,  143. 

4  Tiecks  Schriften  (Berlin:   Reimer,  1828-46),  XVIII,  271. 


48  grillparzer's  attitude  toward  romanticism 

nach  einfachem  Gefiihl,  dass  du  nicht  denkst  und  griibelst  und  Vor- 
satze  fassest,  sondern  nur  so  ganz  einfach  deinem  Wesen  folgst." 
Such  a  character  is  Tieck's  William  Lovell  whom  Haym1  character- 
izes as  a  weakling,  "der  die  Beute  jedes  fliichtigsten  Gefiihls  ist." 
He  wanders  about  without  any  fixed  purpose  in  life,  the  slave  of  uncon- 
trollable passions.  Instinct,  he  believes,  is  a  gift  from  the  gods  to 
man  for  his  guidance:  "Welcher  Mensch  ist  denn  der  edlere — der- 
jenige,  der  stets  nach  dem  Gefuhle  handelt,  das  ihn  gerade  in  diesem 
Momente  beseelt  und  ergreift,  das  ihn  wie  ein  Gott  im  Busen  vor- 
warts  treibt,  und  er  nun  geht,  ohne  mit  feiger  Aengstlichkeit  hinter 
sich  zu  blicken?  Oder  der,  der  nur  als  ein  Sklave  nach  einem 
Gesetze  sucht,  nach  dem  er  handeln  miisse,  weil  es  ihm  lastig  fallt, 
frei  zu  sein,  und  er  also  auch  die  Freiheit  nicht  verdient?  Der 
Mensch  ist  denn  geadelt,  wenn  er  aus  stillen,  unbewussten  Gefiihlen 
auf  die  Art  gut  ist  wie  das  Thier  durch  Instinkt,  Nahrung  und  Gesund- 
heit  erwirbt,  wie  die  Pflanze  von  innen  heraus  wachst,  ohne  ihren 
Willen."2 

Another  such  romantic  character  is  Franz  Sternbald,  who,  by  his 
own  confession,  was  accustomed  "aus  vollem  Herzen  zuzuzahlen, 
seine  Liebe  nicht  zu  messen  und  einzuschranken,  sondern  es  zu  dulden, 
dass  sie  sich  in  vollen  Stromen  durch  das  Land  der  Kunst,  sein  Land 
der  Verheissung  ergoss."3  His  friend  Sebastian  writes  to  him  from 
Nurnberg,  warning  him  not  to  give  way  so  much  to  his  feelings: 
"  Dass  du  dich  von  deinen  Empfindungen  so  regieren  und  zernichten 
lassest,  thut  mir  sehr  weh,  deine  Ueberspannung  rauben  dir  Krafte 
und  Entschluss."4  Franz,  indeed,  reminds  one  very  much  of  those 
characters  of  Grillparzer's  dramas  just  described  in  the  way  in  which  he 
is  ruled  by  his  impulses.,  He  is  but  vaguely  conscious  of  the  motives 
which  induce  him  to  act.  When  Zeuner  asks  him  how  he  came  to 
devote  his  life  to  painting,  he  replies :  "  Das  kann  ich  Euch  selber  nicht 
sagen,  ich  war  plotzlich  dabei,  ohne  zu  wissen  wie  es  kam;  einen 
Trieb  etwas  zu  bilden,  ftihlte  ich  immer  in  mir"5 — a  reply  which  may 
be  fitly  compared  with  Hero's  reason,  contained  in  the  words: 

1  Die  romantische  Schule,  2.  Aufl.  (Berlin,  1906),  43. 

2  Tiecks  Schriften,  VI,  332. 

3  Ibid.,  XVI,  131. 

4  Ibid.,  52.  5  Ibid.,  31. 


THE  CHARACTERS  49 

Vielmehr  ein  glucklich  Ungefahr  hat  mich 

Nur  halb  bewusst,  an  diesen  Ort  gebracht  (VII,  12). 

His  actions  throughout  are  quite  in  accord  with  this  confession. 
"Er  kam  auf  einen  freien  )?latz  im  Walde,  und  plotzlich  stand  er 
still.  Er  wusste  selbst  nicht,  warum  er  inne  hielt,  er  verweilte,  um 
daruber  nachzudenken."1  In  one  place  we  are  told  that  he  struggles 
against  this  tendency:  "Er  zwang  sich,  nicht  heftig  zu  sein,  nicht 
seine  Gefuhle  sprechen  zu  lassen,  wenn  sein  Verstand  und  Urtheil 
in  Anspruch  genommen  wurden."2  In  his  meeting  with  Marie  in 
Rome,  however,  he  appears  as  he  truly  is,  dominated  by  impulses : 
"  Ohne  dass  sie  es  gewollt  hatten,  fast  ohne  dass  sie  es  wussten,  hatten 
beide  sich  ihre  Liebe  gestanden."3 

Most  of  the  personages  in  the  Wanderungen  belong  psychologically 
to  the  same  family  as  Sternbald  himself.  The  countess,  whose 
portrait  he  painted  on  his  way  to  Italy,  might  very  well  be  com- 
pared in  some  respects  with  Grillparzer's  Medea  or  Hero.  All  three 
declare  their  indifference  to  love  and  are  confident  of  their  power 
to  resist  it.     Medea  says: 

Mein  Garten  ist  die  ungemessene  Erde, 
Des  Himmels  blaue  Saulen  sind  mein  Haus; 
Da  will  ich  stehn,  des  Berges  freien  Liiften 
Entgegentragend  eine  freie  Brust  (V,  12). 

For  Hero,  also,  love  had  no  attraction: 

Hier,  Hymenaus,  der  die  Menschen  bindet, 
Nimm  diesen  Kranz  von  einer,  die  gem  frei. 
Die  Seelen  tauschest  du?    Ei,  gute  Gotter! 
Ich  will  die  meine  nur  fur  mich  behalten  (VII,  8). 

Similarly  the  countess  prided  herself  on  the  fact  that  love  had  been 
unable  to  make  any  impression  on  her:  "Diese  Ruhe  meines  Herzens 
war  mein  grosster  Stolz,  ich  meinte,  was  ich  von  Liebe  gehort,  sei  nur 
eine  Erfindung  begeisterter  Dichter."4  When  she  met  the  Frankish 
knight,  however,  she  became  love's  captive  just  as  it  happened  in  the 
case  of  Hero  and  Medea.  At  the  very  moment  when  she  believed 
herself  to  be  strongest,  and  almost  before  she  was  conscious  of  it, 
she  was  forced  to  yield  to  feelings  which  liad  hitherto  been  unknown 

*  Ibid.,  38.  3  Ibid.,  412. 

*  Ibid.,  406.  ^Ibid.,  261. 


5<d  grillparzer's  attitude  toward  romanticism 

to  her.  "Meine  ganze  Seek  gehorte  ihm  schon,"  she  confesses, 
"noch  ehe  ich  darauf  fiel  diese  Empfindung,  die  alle  meine  Krafte 
abwechselnd  erhohte  und  vernichtete,  Liebe  zu  nennen."1 

Heinrich  von  Ofterdingen  develops  very  much  like  the  other 
romantic  characters  already  discussed.  He  is  perfectly  passive  in 
nature  and  does  not  strive  after  any  ideal.  "Von  keiner  absichts- 
vollen  Erziehung  in  der  freien  Entfaltung  seines  Wesens  gestort,  ist 
er  in  bescheidener  Enge  in  dem  elterlichen  Hause  zu  Eisenach  auf- 
gewachsen,  ganz  ahnlich,  wie  ja  auch  Hardenbergs  Jugend  verlief."2 
Most  sensitive  to  every  new  impression,  he  is  one  of  those  poetic 
natures  described  by  Klingsohr,  "deren  Welt  ihr  Gemuth,  deren 
Thatigkeit  die  Betrachtung,  deren  Leben  ein  leises  Bilden  ihrer 
inneren  Krafte  ist."3  In  Klingsohr  he  instinctively  recognizes  a  kin- 
dred spirit  and  is  drawn  to  him  the  moment  he  sets  eyes  on  him. 
The  manner  in  which  he  is  attracted  to  Mathilde  is  equally  sudden 
and  irresistible  and  supplies  us  with  another  example  of  that  psy- 
chology which  recognizes  in  instinct  the  highest  law  of  action  and  of 
life.* 

To  act  in  accordance  with  some  fixed  plan  and  with  some  definite 
purpose  in  view  is  quite  opposed  to  romantic  psychology.  The 
romantic  characters  as  depicted  in  the  novels  of  the  Romantic  school 
are  almost  invariably  wanderers  who  do  not  know  what  they  want 
(cf.  William  Lovell,  Franz  Sternbald,  Heinrich  von  Ofterdingen, 
the  Taugenichts,  etc.).  Franz  Sternbald  is  for  a  moment  enchanted 
with  the  prospect  of  a  quiet,  peaceful  life  in  the  country.  He  soon 
sees,  however,  that  such  a  life  would  not  be  congenial  to  a  person 
with  his  temperament,  and  adds:  "Ich  muss  erst  alter  werden,  denn 
jetzt  weiss  ich  selber  noch  nicht  was  ich  will."5  His  brother  Ludovico 
goes  to  even  greater  extremes  when  he  says :  "  Man  kann  seinen  Zweck 
nicht  vergessen,  weil  der  vernunftige  Mensch  sich  schon  so  einrichtet, 

«  Tiecks  Schriften,  XVI,  262. 

2  R.  Haym,  Die  romantische  Schule,  388. 

3  Novalis  Schriften  (Heilborn),  I,  94. 

4  Novalis'  own  love  for  Sophie  von  Kuhn,  as  we  learn  from  the  answer  to  a  letter 
which  he  wrote  to  his  brother  Erasmus  (the  original  letter  has  unfortunately  been  lost) 
was  of  the  same  character.  (Fr.  v.  Hardenberg,  Nachlese,  herausgegeben  von  einem 
Mitglied  der  Familie  [Gotha,  1883],  70  f.) 

s  Tiecks  Schriften,  XVI,  59. 


THE  CHARACTERS  51 

dass  er  gar  keinen  Zweck  hat.  Ich  muss  nur  lachen,  wenn  ich  Leute 
so  grosse  Anstalten  machen  sehe,  um  ein  Leben  zu  fiihren,  das  Leben 
ist  dahin,  noch  ehe  sie  mit  den  Vorbereitungen  fertig  sind."1  Fried- 
rich  Schlegel  expresses  the  same  point  of  view  in  his  novel,  Lucinde, 
where  he  makes  Julius  say:  "Absichten  haben,  nach  Absichten 
handeln  und  Absichten  mit  Absichten  zu  neuer  Absicht  kiinsdich 
verweben,  diese  Unart  ist  so  tief  in  die  narrische  Natur  des  gottahn- 
lichen  Menschen  eingewurzelt,  dass  er  sich's  nun  ordentlich  vorsetzen 
und  zur  Absicht  machen  muss,  wenn  er  sich  einmal  ohne  alle  Absicht 
auf  dem  innern  Strom  ewig  fliessender  Bilder  und  Gefuhle  frei 
bewegen  will."2  In  his  description  of  the  meeting  between  Achilles 
and  Nausikaa  it  is  the  natural  naivett  of  the  king's  daughter  which 
Schlegel  admires :  "  In  allem  was  Nausikaa  sagt,  und  in  ihrem  ganzem 
Benehmen  ist  die  schonste  Mischung  von  Offenheit  und  Furchtsam- 
keit,  von  heimlichem  Verlangen  und  Delikatesse!  Ohne  an  sich  zu 
denken,  und  um  sich  zu  wissen,  ohne  die  geringste  Absicht,  handelt 
sie  nach  dem  reinen  Eindrucke  auf  ein  unschuldiges  Herz."3 

That  is  not  to  say  that  the  romanticists  did  not  believe  at  all  in 
purpose.  Purpose,  however,  they  believed,  was  realized  through 
instinct.  The  two  go  hand  in  hand,  for,  as  Friedrich  Schlegel  states, 
"bei  fortschreitenden  Naturen  erweitern,  scharfen  und  bilden  sich 
Begriff  und  Sinn  (instinct)  gegenseitig."4  In  every  good  poem,  to 
quote  the  same  authority, "  muss  alles  Absicht  und  alles  Instinkt  sein."5 
The  perfect,  practical  genius,  according  to  Schleiermacher,  is  the  man 
in  whom  "alles  Absicht  und  alles  Instinkt,  alles  Willkur  und  alles 
Natur  sein  wttrde,"  the  man  who  does  not  strive  after  an  ideal  but 
who  waits  till  the  opportune  moment  appears.6  "Das  ist  es  eben 
was  man  niemals  vergessen  darf,"  writes  Ricarda  Huch,  "dass  das 
Bewusstsein  des  Romantikers  mit  dem  Gehalte  des  Unbewussten 
erfiillt  ist."7 

■  Ibid.,  338. 

3  Fr.  Schlegel,  Lucinde  (Reclam),  93. 

3  J.  Minor,  Fr.  Schlegels  Jugendschriften,  I,  33. 

4/Wtf.,   II,   173. 

5  Lyceumsfragment  23;  cf.  also  A  thendums fragment  51. 

6  A  thendums fragment  428. 

7  R.  Huch,  Bliitezeit  d.  Romantik,  100. 


52  grillparzer's  attitude  toward  romanticism 

From  what  has  been  said  it  is  clear  that  the  romanticists  regarded 
instinct  as  the  highest  attribute  of  man.      "Mit  Instinkt  hat  der 
Mensch  angefangen,"  says  Novalis,  "mit  Instinkt  soil  der  Mensch 
enden.     Instinkt  ist  das- Genie  im  Paradiese  vor  der  Periode  der 
Selbstabsonderung."1     In  discussing  Grillparzer's  persons  it  was  seen 
yfnat  there,  too,  instinct  plays  a_much  greater  r61e  than  reason.    The 
/  conflict  between  reason  and  passion  which  takes  place  in  the  souls 
/    of  the  various  personages  ends  invariably  in  a  victory  for  the  natural 
V   feelings  of  the  heart.     Hero  desires  to  follow  "das  Licht,  das  uns  die 
Gotter  gaben"  (VII,  56),  but  her  love  proves  stronger  than  her  attach- 
ment to  the  priestly  office.     Medea,  Bertha,  and  even  Melitta  struggle 
to  some  extent  against  their  fate,  but  in  vain.     In  the  case  of  Rahel 
there  is  no  sign  of  a  struggle;  she  gives  herself  up  wholly  to  her  natural 
instincts. 

/  The  fate,  therefore,  to  which  these  characters  are  subjected  is 
'a  purely  romantic  fate.  Believing  that  personality  is  its  own  law, 
fate  could  not  be  considered  by  the  romanticist  as  an  external  force 
ruling  over  the  destinies  of  man,  but  as  an  inner  psychological  power 
against  which  it  is  useless  to  struggle.2  An  external  fate  may  be  bent 
to  some  extent;  fate  in  the  romantic  sense  is  something  which  lies 
>eyond  the  power  of  man  to  mold  to  his  purposes,  for  it  is  nothing 
more  or  less  than  the  expression  of  his  own  personality,  the  following 
of  inner  dictates  which  are  nearer  to  him  than  his  own  breathing. 
Such  was  the  fate  against  which  Kleist's  Penthesilea  attempted  to 
struggle.  The  priestess  cannot  understand  why  Penthesilea  is  unable 
to  flee  from  Achilles  when  no  fate  holds  her,  "nichts  als  ihr  toricht 
Herz."     Pro thoe,  however,  replies : 

Das  ist  ihr  Schicksal ! 
Dir  scheinen  Eisenbanden  unzerreissbar, 
Nicht  wahr?    Nun  sieh:  sie  brache  sie  vielleicht, 
Und  das  Gefiihl  doch  nicht,  das  du  verspottest3 

The  same  is  true  of  many  of  Grillparzer's  persons.     Despite  the  fact 
that  Grillparzer,  in  speaking  of  his  Ahnfrau,  declared  in  conversation 

1  Novalis  Schriften  (Heilborn),  II,  ii,  531. 

2  "Das  Fatum,  das  uns  driickt  ist  die  Tragheit  unseres  Geistes:  durch  Erweite- 
rung  und  Bildung  unserer  Thatigkeit  werden  wir  uns  selbst  in  das  Fatum  verwandeln." 
— Novalis  Schriften  (Heilborn),  II,  i,  176. 

3  H.  von  Kleist,  Samtliche  Werke  (D.N.L.)  2.  Teil,  343. 


THE  CHARACTERS  53 

with  Emil  Kuh  that  the  idea  of  fate  which  dwells  only  in  the  human 
breast  is  not  only  unpoetic  but  also  untrue,  that  man  struggles  not 
only  with  his  own  soul  but  also  with  an  external  power  which  forces 
itself  in  upon  him,1  the  fate  which  links  his  persons  together  is  largely 
the  same  as  that  which  holds  Penthesilea  and  Achilles.  It  is  a  power 
against  which  it  is  vain  for  them  to  struggle.  While  it  is  true  that 
external  fate  plays  a  large  part  in  bringing  about  the  catastrophe  in 
the  Ahnfrau  and  the  drama,  as  a  whole,  has  stamped  upon  it  the 
features  of  the  fate-tragedy,  there  is  nothing  external  about  the 
power  which  links  together  Bertha  and  Jaromir.  As  has  been 
shown  they  follow  blindly  the  impulses  of  the  heart.  The  same  is 
true  of  Phaon  and  Melitta  and  of  Hero  and  Leander.  Of  the  latter 
Scherer  says:  "Hier  wird  nichts  den  Umstanden,  nichts  dem  Zufall 
zugewalzt.  Die  Gewalt  der  Leidenschaft  allein  fuhrt  ins  Verderben.  "3 
External  fate  also  plays  a  considerable  role  in  Das  goldene  Vliess, 
but  the  relation  between  Jason  and  Medea  is  purely  personal.  Here, 
as  in  the  other  dramas,  it  is  the  "Zug  des  Herzens,"  so  prominent  in 
the  characters  of  romanticism,  which  is  the  mainspring  of  the  action 
and  which  prevails  over  all  other  considerations. 

II.      THE   QUIETISTIC  TYPE 

Not  only  does  Grillparzer  depict  in  his  dramas  characters  who 
follow  blindly  their  impulses,  but  he  also  introduces  frequently  the 
contemplative,  quietistic  character  which  turns  away  from  life  and 
seeks  happiness  in  retirement — a  type  which  is  often  combined  with 
the  instinctive  character  and  which  is  equally  romantic.  To  this 
class  belong  Rustan,  Raimund,  Robert  of  Normandy,  Margarete, 
the  Priester  in  Des  Meeres  und  der  Liebe  Welleny  Libussa  and  her 
sisters,  Rudolf  the  Second,  and  Matthias.  Here,  too,  belong  partly 
Sappho,  Bancbanus,  Phaon,  Melitta,  and  others. 

Rustan,  the  hero  of  Der  Trautn,  ein  Leben,3  is,  like  Jaromir,  a 
representative  of  the  mannlich-weiblich  type  which  was  such  a  favorite 
with  the  romanticists.  He  is  filled  with  that  unrest  which  makes  the 
romantic  character  an  aimless  wanderer  in  quest  of  happiness  in  its 

1  E.  Kuh,  Zwei  Dichter  OesUrreichs  (Pest,  1872),  24. 

2  W.  Scherer,  op.  cit.,  257. 

*  S.  Hock,  Der  Trautn,  ein  Leben  (Stuttgart  and  Berlin,  1904). 


54  grillparzer's  attitude  toward  romanticism 

various  forms.    Like  Ulysses  of  old,  he  "cannot  rest  from  travel" 
and  is  determined  to  "drink  life  to  the  lees."     The  restless  strivings 
which  have  taken  possession  of  his  soul  are  described  by  his  uncle, 
rf)hsud: 

Ja,  fiirwahr,  ein  wilder  Geist  ^ 

Wohnt  in  seinem  dustern  Busen,  / 

Herrscht  in  seinem  ganzen  Thun 
Und  lasst  nimmerdar  ihn  ruhn  (VII,  114). 

Sleeping  and  waking  he  dreams  of  wars  and  battles,  of  crowns  and 
victory.  Like  the  numerous  romantic  characters  who  are  unwilling 
to  setde  down  to  an  ordinary  mode  of  life,  preferring  to  spend  their 
days  in  the  pursuit  of  an  ideal  which  they  never  realize,  Rustan  is 
dissatisfied  with  the  uneventful  existence  in  Massud's  house  and 
wanders  through  mountains  and  woods,  a  prey  to  his  discontent: 

Wie  so  schal  diinkt  mich  dies  Leben, 

Wie  so  schal  und  jammerlich! 

Stets  das  Heute  nur  des  Gestern  v 

Und  des  Morgen  flaches  Bild;  \ 

Freude,  die  mich  nicht  erfreuet, 

Leiden,  das  mich  nicht  betriibt, 

Und  der  Tag,  der,  stets  emeuet, 

Nichts  doch  als  sich  selber  gibt  (VII,  120). 

He  is  filled  with  a  longing  for  a  life  of  activity  which  allows  him  no 
rest.     To  achieve  greatness  is  his  most  ardent  wish: 

Sich  hinabzustiirzen  dann 

In  das  rege,  wirre  Leben, 

An  die  voile  Brust  es  driicken,  \ 

An  sich  und  doch  unter  sich: 

Wie  ein  Gott,  an  leisen  Faden 

Trotzende  Gewalten  lenken,  u.s.w.  (VII,  121). 

An  impulse  within  him  urges  him  to  seek  his  fortune  in  the  world  and 
his  uncle  reluctantly  grants  him  the  permission  which  he  demands. 
Rustan,  however,  is  no  man  of  action,  but,  as  Goedeke  says, 
"  einen  von  sturmischem  Thatendurst  erf iillten  Schwarmer,  der  nur 
von  Glanz,  Ruhm  und  Macht  traumt."  *  Like  the  archduke  Matthias 
in  the  Bruderzwist  he  is  unfitted  for  active  life  but  does  not  recognize 

1  Grundriss  u.s.w^  III,  388. 


THE  CHARACTERS  55 

his  weakness  till  he  has  lived  through  the  dream  of  a  night.  His 
normal  state  is  quietism;  Mirza  pictures  him  as  he  really  is: 

O,  ich  weiss  wohl  eine  Zeit, 
Wo  er  sanft  war,  fromm  und  mild. 
Wo  er  stundenlange  sass 
Auf  dem  Grund  zu  meinen  Flissen, 
Bald  des  Hauses  Arbeit  teilend, 
Bald  ein  Marchen  mir  erzahlend, 
*  Bald — o,  glaubt  mir,  lieber  Vater! 
Er  war  damals  sanft  und  gut  (VII,  114). 

Even  in  his  dream,  when  whirled  along  by  ambition  and  intoxicated 
by  success,  he  betrays,  at  times,  longings  for  the  quiet  happiness  which 
he  had  scorned  in  his  mad  quest  for  fame  and  glory: 

O,  hatt'  ich — o  hatt'  ich  nimmer  , 

Dich  verlassen,  heimisch  Dach, 

Und  den  Taumelpfad  betreten, 

Dem  sich  Sorgen  winden  nach. 

Hatt'  ich  nie  des  Aeussern  Schimmer  _J 

Mit  des  Innern  Wert  bezahlt 

Und  das  Gaukelbild  der  Hoffnung 

Fern  auf  Nebelgrund  gemalt!     (VII,  167). 

The  folly  of  his  course  is  revealed  to  him  in  his  dream,  where  he 
sees  himself  committing  crime  upon  crime  in  the  pursuit  of  his  ambi- 
tious designs.  To  the  deception  which  he  practices  on  the  king  of 
Samarcands  in  order  to  win  his  favor  and  to  obtain  the  hand  of  his 
daughter,  Gulnare,  he  adds  the  crime  of  the  murder  of  his  rival. 
Accused  before  the  king  by  old  Kaleb,  the  dumb  father  of  the  victim, 
he  poisons  his  benefactor  and  attributes  the  deed  to  his  accuser.  The 
latter  is  thrown  into  prison  and  Rustan  reigns  in  Samarcand  with  the 
princess.  His  fortunes,  however,  are  on  the  wane.  His  tyrannical 
rule  causes  an  insurrection  and  the  friends  of  the  dumb  Kaleb  demand 
justice  from  the  princess.  Rustan  is  recognized  as  the  real  murderer 
of  the  king  and  of  Kaleb's  son  and  is  forced  to  flee  for  his  life,  accom- 
panied by  his  accomplice,  Zanga.  Surrounded  on  all  sides  by  his 
pursuers,  he  casts  himself  in  despair  from  the  very  bridge  on  which 
he  had  murdered  his  rival. 

During  his  dream  Rustan  has  been  reminded  constantly  of  the 
happiness  which  might  have  been  his,  but  which  he  has  trampled 


56  grillparzer's  attitude  toward  romanticism 

under  foot.     Mirza  appears  to  him  in  a  vision,  sitting  in  front  of 
her  father's  cottage  and  he  hears  the  warning  voice  as  the  king 

reads : 

Rustan,  Rustan,  wilder  Jager, 

Warum  qualst  du  deine  Liebe, 

Suchst  auf  unbetretnen  Pfaden 

Ein  noch  zweifelhaft  Geschick  ?  —J 


Kehr  zuriick  auf  deinen  Wegen, 

Wenn  nicht  hier,  wo  ist  das  Gliick  ?  (VII,  178,  179). 

A  vision  of  the  "Mann  vom  Felsen"  whom  he  has  murdered 
also  appears  to  warn  him  against  the  dangerous  course  he  is  pur- 
suing: 

Rustan,  Rustan,  wilder  Jager, 

Kehr  zuriick  auf  deinen  Pfaden ! 

Was  ist  Ruhm,  der  Grosse  Gliick  ? 

Sieh  auf  mich !    Weil  ich  getractet  ^ 

Nach  zu  Hohem,  nach  Verbotnem, 

Irr'  ich  hier  in  dieser  Wiiste, 

Freigestellt  das  nackte  Leben 

Jedes  Meuchelmorders  Dolch  (VII,  179,  180). 

To  this  might  be  added  the  words  of  the  old  dervish  which  he  heard 
just  before  dropping  off  to  sleep: 

Schatten  sind  des  Lebens  Giiter,  / 

Schatten  seiner  Freuden  Schar,  ' 

Schatten  Worte,  Wiinsche,  Thaten, 
Die  Gedanken  nur  sind  wahr  (VII,  132). 

Rustan  awakes  in  his  uncle's  house  and  discovers  that  the  horrible 
adventures  of  days  and  weeks  were  but  the  dreams  of  a  night,  and 
that  the  bloody  murderer  of  Kaleb's  son  and  of  the  king  has  still 
unstained  hands.  The  frightful  nightmare  through  which  he  has 
passed  is,  however,  a  warning  to  him.  His  dreams  of  fame  and  glory 
have  been  dissipated  and  he  is  now  content  to  lead  a  quiet  idyllic  life 
with  Mirza  and  his  uncle.  Greatness  has  no  longer  any  attraction 
for  him;  true  happiness,  he  is  convinced,  is  to  be  found  only  in  the 
quiet  harmony  of  the  soul.  His  philosophy  of  life,  and  Grillparzer's 
own  philosophy,  is  contained  in  the  words: 


THE  CHARACTERS  57 

Eines  nur  ist  Gliick  hienieden, 

Eins:  des  Innem  stiller  Frieden 

Und  die  schuldbefreite  Brust! 

Und  die  Grosse  ist  gefahrlich, 

Und  der  Ruhm  ein  leeres  Spiel;  . 

Was  er  gibt,  sind  nicht'ge  Schatten,  ^"~ 

Was  er  nimmt,  es  ist  so  viel!     (VII,  215). 

This,  too,  is  the  ideal  of  Massud  and  Mirza;   all  three  are  types  of 
quietism  and  just  the  opposite  of  Zanga  for  whom  life  is  action 

(VII,  123).  t 

The  fleeing  away  from  actual  life  in  pursuit  of  contentment  is 
characteristic  of  romanticism.  Romantic  characters  are  ever  filled 
with  a  longing  for  satisfaction  which  they  fail  to  find  in  ordinary, 
everyday  life  and  which  they  therefore  seek  in  remote  lands  and  times, 
or  in  the  ideals  of  their  own  souls.  Thus  we  find  the  romanticists 
interested  in  the  Middle  Ages,  in  aimless  travel  in  distant  countries, 
and  in  poetry,  music,  and  painting.  The  heroes  of  their  books  are 
almost  invariably  on  journeys,  and  are  always  singing  the  praises  of 
the  wanderer's  life:  "O  glucklich,"  says  Tieck's  Sternbald,  "ist  der, 
der  bald  die  enge  Heimath  verlasst,  um  wie  der  Vogel  seinen  Fittig 
zu  prufen  und  sich  auf  unbekannten,  schoneren  Zweigen  zu 
schaukeln."1  Sternbald  resembles  Grillparzer's  Rustan  in  that  the 
ordinary  occupations  of  life  offer  no  attraction  for  him.  Like  Rustan 
he  is  bent  upon  realizing  the  ideal  of  his  dreams.  When  Zeuner 
offers  him  the  position  of  overseer  in  his  factory,  he  refuses  flatly,2 
and  when  his  mother  tries  to  persuade  him  to  settle  down  and  till  the 
soil,  he  declares  that  such  a  life  would  be  impossible  for  him:  "Wenn 
ich  durch  ungekannte  Gegenden  mit  frischem  Herzen  streifen  kann, 
so  mag  ich  keines  ruhigen  Lebens  geniessen.  Tausend  Stimmen 
rufen  mir  herzstarkend  aus  der  Feme  zu,  die  ziehenden  Vogel,  die 
uber  meinem  Haupte  wegfliegen,  scheinen  mir  Boten  aus  der  Feme, 
alle  Wolken  erinnern  mich  an  meine  Reise,  jeder  G^danke,  jeder 
Pulsschlag  treibt  mich  vorwarts,  wie  konnt'  ich  da  wohl  in  meinen 
jungen  Jahren  ruhig  hier  sitzen  und  das  Wachstum  des  Getreides 
abwarten,  die  Einzaunung  des  Gartens  besorgen  und  Ruben 
pflanzen!"3 

*  Tiecks  Schriften,  XVI,  21.  »  Ibid.,  XVI,  30,  31.  3  Ibid.,  48,  49- 


58  grillparzer's  attitude  toward  romanticism 

The  romantic  character,  however,  is  no  more  a  man  of  action  than 
is  Grillparzer's  Rustan.  As  Friedrich  Schlegel  says  of  Goethe's 
Wilhelm  Meister  "sein  ganzes  Thun  und  Wesen  besteht  fast  im 
Streben,  Wollen  und  Empfinden."1  The  passion  for  wandering, 
with  which  he  is  filled,  is  merely  the  desire  for  happiness  which  drives 
him  out  into  the  wide  world  to  seek  his  fortune.  Like  Rustan,  how- 
ever, he  generally  finds  in  the  end  that  happiness  waits  for  him  at 
^)  home.  Such,  for  example,  is  the  case  with  Eichenglorff's  Taup;enjchts. 
"Nachdem  er  das  ganze  Leben  lang  iiberall  seine  blaueJBlume  gesucht 
hat,  findet  er  sie  in  seiner  Heimat."2  That,  too,  is  the  general  signifi- 
cance of  the  fable  in  Novalis'  Lehrlinge  zu  Sais,3  a  fable  which  is  in 
many  respects  parallel  to  Grillparzer's  Der  Traum,  ein  Leben.  Hya- 
cinth, like  Rustan,  is  a  self-absorbed  type.  Caves  and  woods  were 
his  favorite  dwelling-places.  He  is  in  love  with  the  beautiful  Rosen- 
blutchen  just  as  Grillparzer's  hero  is  in  love  with  Mirza.  In  both 
cases,  however,  the  smooth  course  of  love  is  disturbed.  Zanga  incites 
Rustan  to  activity;  Hyacinth  is  entirely  taken  up  with  the  wonderful 
tales  of  an  old  man  who  comes  from  afar  and  seats  himself  in  front 
of  his  parents'  house.  "  Da  that  er  seinen  weissen  Bart  voneinander 
und  erzahlte  bis  tief  in  die  Nacht."  And  now  it  is  all  over  with  Hya- 
cinth's happiness  and  love.  He  feels  within  him  an  impulse  which 
draws  him  away  from  his  home,  out  into  the  world.  "Wenn  ich  an 
die  alten  Zeiten  zuruck  denken  will,  so  kommen  gleich  machtigere 
Gedanken  dazwischen;  die  Ruhe  ist  fort,  Herz  und  Liebe  mit,  ich 
muss  sie  suchen  gehn.  Ich  wollt  euch  gern  sagen  wohin,  ich  weiss 
selbst  nicht:  dahin  wo  die  Mutter  der  Dinge  wohnt,  die  verschleierte 
Jungfrau;  nach  der  ist  mein  Gemiit  entziindet."  Finally  he 
approaches  the  dwelling  of  the  veiled  maiden,  but,  as  was  the  case 
with  Rustan,  he  first  obtains  the  object  of  his  desires  through  a  dream. 
Just  as  Rustan  in  his  dream  seems  to  recognize  familiar  figures  of  his 
past  life  (cf.  VII,  178),  so  the  various  scenes  through  which  he  .passes 
seem  familiar  to  Hyacinth,  but  enhanced  in  beauty.  At  last  he  stands 
before  the  heavenly  maiden;    he  raises  the  glittering  veil  which 

1  J.  Minor,  Fr.  Schlegels  Jugendschriften,  II,  168. 

2  G.  Brandes,  Die  romantische  Schule  in  Deutschland%  244. 

3  Novalis  Schriften  (Heilborn),  I,  224-29. 


THE  CHARACTERS  59 

envelops  her  and  Rosenbliitchen  sinks  into  his  arms.  After  seeking 
everywhere  the  "blaue  Blume,"  he,  too,  like  Rustan  and  the  Tauge- 
nichts,  finds  happiness  in  the  quiet  joys  of  an  idyllic  existence.  All 
three  are  romantic  types  of  quietism.1 

J  tingling,  in  Irenens  Wiederkehrf  one  of  Grillparzer's  earlier 
fragments,  gives  expression  to  the  same  desire  for  activity  as 
Rustan: 

Hinaus,  hinaus 

Aus  engendem  Haus, 

In  Wald  und  Flur, 

Im  Schoss  der  Natur, 

Der  ungemessnen,  ewig  heitern, 

Die  sturmisch  pochende  Brust  zu  erweitern ! 

Mich  treibt's  mit  Gewalt 

Hinaus  in  den  Wald, 

Der  Freiheit  luftigen  Aufenthalt! 

Mich  duldet's  nicht  hinter  oden  Wanden, 

Beim  stillen  Thun  von  hauslichen  Handen  (XI,  25). 

In  contrast  to  this  insatiable  ambition  is  the  song  of  the  Wanderer, 
which  represents  Grillparzer's  ideal: 

In  bescheidenen  Bezirken 

Wirkt  des  Mannes  that'ge  Kraft; 

Fruchtereicher  ist  sein  Wirken, 

Er  zerstoret  nicht,  er  schafft, 

Und  die  Riesengrosse  der  Gedanken 

Fesseln  nun  des  Hauses  enge  Schranken. 

Er  lebt  in  der  Seinen  Kreise, 
Durch  sich  selber  froh  und  reich, 
Und  in  blumenvollem  Gleise 
Rollt  das  Leben  sanft  und  gleich ! 
Innig  fesselt  ihn  mit  siisser  Kette, 
Gatten-,  Vaterlieb'  an  eine  Statte. 

1  Wir  traumen  von  Reisen  durch  das  Weltall;   ist  denn  das  Weltall  nicht  in  uns  ? 

.  .  .  .  Nach   innen   geht  der  geheimnisvolle  Weg Die   Aussenwelt  ist   die 

Schattenwelt,  sie  wirft  ihren  Schatten  in  das  Lichtreich.  (Bliltenstaub,  Novalis 
Schriften  (Heilborn),  II,  1,  4;  cf.  also  II,  1,  131,  335). 

2  A.  Sauer,  Grillparzers  samtliche  Werke,  XI,  21  f. 


60  grillparzer's  attitude  toward  romanticism 

Er  geizt  nicht  nach  eitlem  Ruhme, 

Freut  sich  nicht  der  blut'gen  Schlacht, 

Froh  in  kleinem  Eigentume, 

Wenn  sein  trautes  Weib  ihm  lacht; 

Wenn  im  engen  Raum  der  armen  Hiitte, 

Froh  er  ruht  in  froher  Kinder  Mitte  (XI,  28,  29).  ■ 

Raimund,  in  the  opera,  Melusina,2  is  also  a  parallel  character  to 
Rustan.  Like  Rustan  he  is  a  dreamer  who  is  not  satisfied  with  ordi- 
nary life  and  is  willing  to  sacrifice  actual  human  happiness  in  the 
pursuit  of  a  delusion.  His  peace  of  soul  has  been  disturbed  by  a 
dream  in  which  he  saw  a  fountain  where  water-nymphs  were  wont 
to  disport  themselves.  One  day,  while  hunting,  he  finds  himself 
near  this  very  fountain  and  invokes  the  fairy  of  his  dreams  to  show 
herself: 

Mog'  dir  gefallen,  ganz  dich  mir  zu  zeigen, 

Und  willst  du's  nicht,  o  so  entlass  mich  ganz ! 

Ein  fremdes  Streben  hast  du  mir  entglommen, 

Von  dunkler  Ahnung  hebt  sich  meine  Brust, 

Was  sonst  mein  Gliick  war,  ist  von  mir  genommen, 

Und  durstend  lechz'  ich  nach  getraumter  Lust  (VII,  226). 

While  he  slumbers,  Melusina  appears  to  him  again,  tells  him  of  her 
love,  and  leaves  a  ring.  On  finding  the  ring  he  is  convinced  that  his 
dream  was  a  reality  and  despite  all  the  warnings  of  his  friends  and  of 
Bertha,  his  betrothed,  he  descends  into  Melusina's  kingdom,  which 
opens  up  before  him  like  the  Venusberg  to  Tannhauser. 

And  yet  Raimund  is  not  willing  to  loiter  about  on  couches  of  idle- 
ness. He  feels  within  him  the  desire  for  a  life  of  activity  (VII,  242). 
The  thought  of  home  and  those  whom  he  has  left  behind  is  still  with 
him.  In  a  vision  he  sees  a  knight  approaching  and  pointing  toward 
a  coat  of  arms: 

Was  willst  du,  Mann,  mit  deinem  argen  Troste  ? 
Willst  du  mir  sagen,  dass  mein  Eisen  roste?  (VII,  247). 

1  That,  too,  was  Grillparzer's  conception  of  Faust.  Speaking  of  his  proposed 
continuation  of  Goethe's  Faust,  he  stated  in  1822:  "Ich  erinnere  mich  von  meinem 
damaligen  Ideengang  nur  noch  so  viel,  dass  ich  nach  Gretchens  entsetzlicher  Katas- 
trophe  Fausten  in  sich  zuruckkehren  und  nun  finden  lassen  wollte,  worin  er  es  versehen, 
worin  eigentlich  das  Gliick  besteht:  in  Selbstbegrenzung  und  Seelenfrieden"  (XI,  257). 

2  A.  Sauer,  Grillparzers  samtliche  Werke,  VII,  223  f. 


THE  CHARACTERS  6l 

The  vision  of  a  woman  blowing  a  trumpet  reminds  him  that  he  is 
losing  his  fair  name  and  fame;  while  the  sight  of  a  pilgrim  warns  him 
that  he  is  jeopardizing  his  soul.  All  these  thoughts  urge  him  to  return 
to  the  world,  and,  when  he  learns  to  know  Melusina's  true  nature, 
he  carries  out  this  resolve. 

But  although  Raimund  has  forsaken  Melusina,  his  heart  is  still 
with  her.  The  flowers  of  earth  are  to  him  without  color,  the  herbs 
are  but  dry  husks  without  fragrance,  when  compared  with  the  beauty 
and  fragrance  of  Melusina's  kingdom.  He  feels  that  he  has  sacrificed 
his  happiness  in  deserting  the  fairy  and  will  not  be  comforted.  The 
count  rebukes  him  for  being  so  melancholy:  "Was  also  wollt  Ihr? 
Dieses  unbestimmte  Sehnen  und  Verlangen  ist  das  Grab  aller  That- 
kraft.  Raimund,  Ihr  musst  handeln"  (VII,  261).  His  companions 
sing  the  praises  of  fame,  wine,  and  women,  and  Raimund  seems  to 
be  reconciled.  Suddenly,  however,  he  sees  the  pale  form  of  Melusina 
among  the  dancers.  He  is  once  more  in  her  power,  and,  to  redeem 
the  ring  which  he  has  thrown  away,  he  descends  into  the  grave. 
The  piece  ends  in  an  apotheosis  where  love  receives  its  reward  for  its 
faithfulness. 

Grillparzer's  sympathies  throughout  are  with  the  romantic  charac- 
ters; our  chief  interest  is  in  Melusina  and  Raimund,  not  with  the 
characters  of  ordinary  life.  Raimund  is  not  really  interested  in  the 
ordinary  affairs  of  life.  To  quote  Volkelt:  "  Es  wird  als  ein  Fehltritt 
dargestellt,  dass  Raimund,  neben  anderen  Motiven  auch  dem  Drange 
nach  Tatigkeit  gehorchend  (see  241,  247,  261  ff.)  Melusinen  untreu 
wird  und  sich  in  die  Menschenwelt  zuruckbegibt.  Und  seine  Erlosung 
besteht  darin,  dass  er  wieder  in  Melusinens  tatlos  seliges  Reich  auf- 
genommen  wird."1  Raimund,  it  is  true,  does  not  find  the  "blaue 
Blume"  of  his  yearning  in  "der  Erde  stillem  Gluck,"  as  Rustan  does. 
His  yearning  leads  him  much  farther.  Like  Rustan,  however,  he 
turns  away  from  actual  life  and  seeks  happiness  in  a  state  of  quietism 
which  is  even  more  extreme. 

"Ruhm  und  Unsterblichkeit,"  we  read  in  one  of  Tieck's  Marchen, 
"ist  nur  ein  Hahnengeschrei,  das  fruher  oder  spater  verschallt,  das 
die  Winde  mit  sich  nehmen  und  das  dann  untergeht.,,a     That  is  the 

1  J.  Volkelt,  Grillparzer  als  Dichter  des  Zwiespalts  zwischen  Gemiit  und  Leben. 
Grillparzer  Jahrbuch,  IV,  23. 

*  L.  Tieck,  "Die  Sieben  Weiber  des  Blaubart,"  Schriften,  IX,  139. 


62 

golden  chord  which  runs  through  so  many  of  Grillparzer's  works.1 
Medea  compares  earthly  fame  to  a  dream  (V,  228).  She  forsakes 
the  simple,  unsophisticated  life  of  nature,  in  which  she  had  lived  in 
perfect  harmony  with  the  cosmic  forces,  and  aspires  to  develop  into 
something  higher,  to  become  a  Greek  among  the  Greeks.  Her 
attempt,  however,  is  doomed  to  failure.  Melitta  is  "das  liebe  Mad- 
chen  mit  dem  stillen  Sinn,"  and  to  her  is  vouchsafed  the  happiness 
which  is  denied  to  Sappho.  Phaon  is  of  the  same  type:  he  is  a  self- 
absorbed  fanciful  character  who  becomes  bewildered  in  the  turmoils 
of  life  and  finds  composure  only  in  solitude  (IV,  156).  The  image 
of  Sappho  first  became  clear  to  him  while  communing  with  Nature 
under  the  silence  of  a  starry  sky: 

Dort,  an  den  Pulsen  der  suss  schlummernden  Natur, 

In  ihres  Zaubers  magisch-macht'gen  Kreisen, 

Da  breitet'  ich  die  Arme  nach  dir  aus; 

Und  wenn  mir  dann  der  Wolken  Flockenschnee, 

Des  Zephyrs  lauer  Hauch,  der  Berge  Duft, 

Des  bleichen  Mondes  silberweisses  Licht 

In  eins  verschmolzen  um  die  Stirne  floss, 

Dann  warst  du  mein,  dann  fiihlt'  ich  deine  Nahe, 

Und  Sapphos  Bild  schwamm  in  den  lichten  Wolken!   (IV,  146). 3 

A  simple  life  close  to  Nature  is  the  ideal  which  he  holds  up  to  Melitta 
when  he  persuades  her  to  flee  with  him: 

Dort  driiben  tiberm  alten,  grauen  Meer 

Wohnt  Sicherheit  und  Run'  und  Liebe ! 

O,  folge !    Unterm  breiten  Lindendach, 

Das  still  der  Eltern  stilles  Haus  beschattet, 

Wolbt,  Teure,  sich  der  Tempel  unsers  Glticks  (IV,  202). 

He  prefers  the  happiness  of  an  uneventful  existence  at  Melitta's  side 
to  all  the  fame  and  glory  which  Sappho  can  offer  him. 

Sappho  herself  yearns  for  the  same  kind  of  happiness.  In  resolv- 
ing to  mingle  with  the  world,  she  does  not  aspire  to  a  life  of  activity, 
but  desires  to  share  with  Phaon  the  joys  of  an  idyllic,  domestic 
life: 

1  W.  Scherer,  op.  cit.,  205  f. 

2  Cf.  Wordsworth's  poem  "There  was  a  boy,"  The  Complete  Poetical  Works  of 
W.  Wordsworth  (Crowell  edition),  137. 


THE  CHARACTERS  63 

An  seiner  Seite  werd'  ich  unter  euch 

Ein  einfach  stilles  Hirtenleben  fiihren, 

Den  Lorbeer  mit  der  Myrte  gem  vertauschend, 

Zum  Preise  nur  von  hauslich  stillen  Freuden 

Die  Tone  wecken  dieses  Seitenspiels, 

Die  ihr  bisher  bewundert  und  verehrt  (IV,  143). 

Her  love-dream,  however,  is  soon  shattered  and  she  recalls  longingly 
the  time  when,  absorbed  only  in  her  art,  she  gazed  out  on  the  world  with 
childlike  eyes,  when  perfect  harmony  reigned  in  her  soul  and  love 
was  to  her  still  a  wonderland.  She,  too,  sings  the  praises  of  quietism, 
when  she  exclaims: 

Weh  dem,  den  aus  der  Seinen  stillem  Kreise 
Des  Ruhms,  der  Ehisucht  eitler  Schatten  lockt! 

She  feels  like  one  who  is  tossed  about  upon  the  waves,  and  who,  gazing 
back,  beholds  in  the  distance  the  happy  shores  which  he  has  left, 
and  hears  the  voices  of  loved  ones  mingled  with  the  roar  of  the  surf. 
Such  a  one  is  borne  along  with  the  flood,  and,  when  he  does  return, 
he  finds  that  the  flowers  of  spring  have  wilted,  leaving  behind  only 
withered  leaves  (IV,  153;  cf.  also  IV,  178,  191). 

The  quiet  happiness  of  domestic  life  is  the  ideal  which  Hero's 
mother  holds  up  to  her  daughter  (VII,  20).  King  Alfonso,  in  the 
Jildin  von  Toledo,  finally  perceives  the  folly  of  his  course  and  tears 
himself  free  from  the  Jewess  who  has  held  him  enthralled.  In  his 
best  moments  he,  too,  has  had  yearnings  for  the  bliss  of  quietude: 

Und  wie  die  Bienen,  die  mit  ihrer  Ladling 

Des  Abends  heim  in  ihre  Zellen  kehren, 

Bereichert  durch  des  Tages  Vollgewinn, 

Uns  finden  in  dem  Kreis  der  Hauslichkeit, 

Nun  doppelt  siiss  durch  zeitliches  Entbehren  (IX,  194). 

Bancbanus,  like  Rustan,  finds  happiness  in  that  peace  of  soul  which^ 
belongs  to  the  man  whose  conscience  is  free  from  guilt  (VI,  159).  He  / 
refuses  the  honors  and  distinctions  with  which  the  king  wishes  to 
reward  him  for  his  faithful  service.  It  has  been  his  experience  that 
such  distinctions  have  only  brought  him  misfortune,  and  he  demands 
permission  to  retire  to  his  ancestral  castie,  there  to  spend  his  days  in 
solitude  beside  the  grave  of  his  murdered  wife  (VI,  253).  Robert, 
duke  of  Normandy,  too,  has  come  to  see  the  emptiness  of  earthly 


64  grillparzer's  attitude  toward  romanticism 

honors  and  rank,  and  is  quite  prepared  to  renounce  his  claims  to  the 
throne  of  England.  "Ja,  ich  dachte  einst  anders,"  he  confesses, 
"aber  diese  Bilder  sind  entflohn  und  ich  sehne  mich  nach  Ruhe,  nach 
Ruhe  an  der  Seite  meines  Weibes,  in  den  Arm  en  meines  Sohnes,  in 
der  Mitte  meiner  Unterthanen"  (XI,  62).  His  wife  is  similarly  dis- 
posed. The  tide  of  "Queen  of  England"  has  no  charms  for  her: 
"Nicht  verlang'  ich  zu  herrschen  als  Furstin  iiber  diese  Lande;  mein 
Herz  ist  fur  einen  Thron  nicht  geschaffen,  innig  sehnt  es  sich  nach 
Ruhe,  nach  Frieden,  nach  Liebe"  (XI,  71,  72).  She  betrays  the 
same  desire  for  a  life  of  retirement  as  we  find  expressed  in  Konig 
Ottokars  Gliick  und  Ende,  where  Margarete  declares  that  she  is  quite 
ready  to  abdicate  in  favor  of  her  rival : 

O,  konnf  ich  jetzt,  in  diesem  Augenblick, 
Weit  hinter  mir  der  Krone  Glanz  und  Pracht, 
Nach  Haimburg  hin,  in  meiner  Vater  Schloss, 
Allwo  ich  sass  nach  meines  Gatten  Tod 
Und  sein  und  meiner  Kinder  Fall  beweinte ! 


Ich  habe  diese  Krone  nicht  gesucht!     (VI,  22). 

Lucretia,  in  the  Bruderzwist,  is  also  persuaded  that  the  highest  good 
is  to  be  found  in  the  ordinary,  simple  duties  of  daily  life: 

O,  dass  die  Manner  nur  ins  Weite  streben ! 
Sie  nennen's  Staat,  das  allgemeine  Beste, 
Was  doch  ein  Trachten  nach  dem  Fernen  nur. 
Gibt's  denn  ein  Bestes,  das  nicht  auch  ein  Nachstes  ? 
Mein  Herz  sagt  nein,  nachstpochend  an  die  Brust  (IX,  91). 

To  Kaiser  Rudolf,  whom  Ottokar  characterizes  as  "ein  gar  stiller 
Mann"  (VI,  28),  is  vouchsafed  the  victory  over  the  all- too-active 
king  of  Bohemia. 

The  ideal  of  the  priest  in  Des  Meeres  und  der  Liebe  Wellen  is  that  of 
a  life  apart  from  men  and  their  activities,  the  old  monastic  ideal  of  the 
Middle  Ages.  Such  a  hermit  life  is  to  be  Hero's  lot.  Just  as  the 
1 3wer,  her  future  home,  stands  isolated  on  the  sea-shore,  so  shall  she 
stand  aloof  from  the  ordinary  interests  of  women  and  lead  a  self- 
( entered  life.  This  ideal,  however,  is  vouchsafed  to  those  only  who 
Avoid  all  that  distracts;  it  is  the  fruit  of  that  Sammlung  which  the 
priest  declares  to  be — 


THE  CHARACTERS  65 

den  machtigen  Weltenhebel, 
Der  alles  Grosse  tausendfach  erhoht 
Und  selbst  das  Kleine  naher  riickt  den  Sternen  (VII,  47). 

Only  to  those  who  possess  this  attribute  are  the  spiritual  voices  audible 
and  the  sources  of  truth  revealed: 

Der  Hintergrund  der  Wesen  thut  sich  auf, 

Und  Gotterstimmen,  halb  aus  eigner  Brust 

Und  halb  aus  Hohn,  die  noch  kein  Blick  ermass  (VII,  47). 

The  avoidance  of  active  life  is  imperative  for  those  who  would  preserve 
this  sensitive  nature.     They  must  spend  their  lives  in  contemplation : 

Doch  wessen  Streben  auf  das  Innre  fuhrt, 

Wo  Ganzheit  nur  des  Wirkens  Fiille  fordert, 

Der  halte  fern  vom  Streite  seinen  Sinn, 

Denn  ohne  Wunde  kehrt  man  nicht  zuriick, 

Die  noch  als  Narbe  mahnt  in  triiben  Tagen  (VII,  48). x 

That  was  Sappho's  fate  (IV,  178) ;  it  was  also  the  fate  of  Libussa. 
Libussa  leaves  the  still  circle  of  the  circumscribed  life  in  order  to 
become  queen  of  the  Bohemians,  but  the  step  is  a  fatal  one.  Hitherto 
she  had  lived  with  her  sisters,  Kascha  and  Tetka,  apart  from  the  world, 
reading  the  events  of  life  by  occult  signs  and  following  the  dictates 
of  the  spirit  within.  Her  sisters  rebuke  her  for  deciding  to  mingle 
with  the  active  affairs  of  government.  "  Wer  handelt,  geht  oft  fehl," 
is  Tetka' s  warning,  to  which  Libussa  replies :  "  Auch  wer  betrachtet " 
(VIII,  132).  Kascha  believes  that  association  with  men  leads  to 
deterioration: 

Wer  nicht  wie  Menschen  sein  will,  schwach  und  klein, 
Der  halte  sich  von  Menschennahe  rein  (VIII,  133). 

She  and  Tetka  are  determined  to  lead  a  life  of  contemplation: 

Sie  aber,  deine  Schwestern,  wollen  einsam 
Und  ungestort  vom  lauten  Pobelschwarm 
Dem  geist'gen  Anschaun  leben,  der  Betrachtung  (VIII,  200,  201). 

Libussa,  like  Sappho,  responds  to  the  call  to  active  duty.  She 
desires  to  become  more  human.    The  contemplation  of  moon  and 

1  In  the  speech:  "Du  wahltest  ewig  unter  Moglichkeiten,"  etc.  (VII,  24),  Grill- 
parzer  makes  the  priest  say  something  which  is  not  consistent  with  his  character. 
Throughout  the  play  the  priest  is  represented  as  being  entirely  indifferent  to  the  actuali- 
ties of  life. 


66  grillparzer' s  attitude  toward  romanticism 

stars,  and  the  mysterious  calculations  with  which  her  sisters  busy 
themselves,  seem  shallow  and  monotonous  to  her.  Like  Sappho 
(IV,  148),  she  finds  in  life  itself  the  highest  purpose  of  life: 

Dies  Kleid,  es  reibt  die  Haut  mit  dichtern  Faden 

Und  weckt  die  Warme  bis  zur  tiefsten  Brust; 

Mit  Menschen  Mensch  sein,  diinkt  von  heut  mir  Lust. 

Des  Mitgefiihles  Pulse  fiihl'  ich  schlagen, 

Drum  will  ich  dieser  Menschen  Krone  tragen  (VIII,  130). 

She  hesitates  about  sacrificing  her  personal  freedom  through  marriage 
(VIII,  171),  but  finally  overcomes  even  this  feeling  and  acknowledges 
Primislaus  as  her  lord  (VIII,  197) .  The  sacrifice  of  her  individuality, 
however,  was  too  great.  Wlasta  notices  the  change  which  has  come 
over  her  mistress  and  warns  Primislaus: 

Wer  seinem  innern  Wesen  widerspricht, 
Der  ist  gezwungen,  ob  durch  sich,  durch  andre. 
Glaubst  du,  Libussa  sei  Libussa  noch, 
Als  Ordnerin  des  Hauses,  als  die  Herrin 
Von  Magden,  die  die  laute  Spindel  drehn  ? 


Sie  fiihlt  es  nicht,  allein  ihr  Wesen  flihlfs. 

Sie  sehnt  sich  nach  den  Schwestern,  glaube  mir, 
Dort  ist  ihr  Platz,  hier  ist  nur  ihre  Statte  (VIII,  208). 

Her  sisters  retire  before  the  bustle  and  tumult  of  communal  life, 
the  beginning  of  which  is  marked  by  the  founding  of  Prague.  Libussa, 
on  the  contrary,  tries  to  become  reconciled  to  the  new  era  of  civiliza- 
tion which  is  dawning,  but  fades  away  like  the  shadow  before  the 
rising  sun.  "Libussa,"  writes  Farinelli,  "hat  Gott  gleichsam  als 
seine  Priesterin  auf  Erden  geschaffen.  Sie  gehort  wie  Sappho,  einer 
hoheren  Sphare  der  Menschheit,  ja  kaum  der  Menschheit  an.  Sobald 
sie  an  irdisches  Leben  gekettet,  dem  rein  Hohen,  dem  rein  Edlen 
entsagt,  sinkt  sie  dahin."1  She  is  one  of  those  romantic  characters 
who  cannot  face  the  facts  of  life. 

Zipper  describes  Rudolf  the  Second  as  one  of  the  most  difficult  and 
complicated  characters  ever  created  by  a  dramatic  poet,  and  goes  on  to 
say  that  the  art  which  Grillparzer  exhibits  here  is  all  the  more  admi- 
rable, "  da  dieser  Charakter  so  stark  im  Banne  des  Quietismus  steht, 

1  Grillparzer  und  Lope  de  Vega,  142. 


THE  CHARACTERS  67 

dass  er  beinahe  nicht  wirken,  bios  sein  will."1  He  is  represented 
as  being  of  an  aesthetic  temperament,  a  man  who  is  more  interested 
in  art  and  books  than  in  the  affairs  of  state.  Even  the  news  of  a 
revolution  in  Hungary  fails  to  arouse  his  attention.  The  affairs  of 
the  outer  world  only  disturb  him  and  make  him  irritable  and  impatient. 
Rudolf,  moreover,  is  perfectly  aware  of  the  lack  of  activity  in  his 
nature.  When  his  nephew,  Ferdinand,  hints  that  the  archduke 
Matthias  would  like  an  office  in  which  he  might  have  more  scope  for 
activity,  he  retorts: 

1st  er  denn  thatig  nicht  ? 
Er  reitet,  rennt  und  ficht.    Wir  beide  haben 
Von  unserm  Vater  Thatkraft  nicht  geerbt — 
Allein  ich  weiss  es,  und  er  weiss  es  nicht  (IX,  26). 

The  romantic,  reactionary  ideal  of  passivity  and  quietism  is  the  ruling 
principle  in  Rudolf's  life.  Like  Rousseau  and  Wordsworth,  he  finds 
true  life  in  Nature,  not  in  Man: 

Drum  ist  in  Sternen  Wahrheit,  im  Gestein, 

In  Pflanze,  Tier  und  Baum,  im  Menschen  nicht. 

Und  wer's  verstiinde,  still  zu  sein  wie  sie, 

Gelehrig  fromm,  den  eignen  Willen  meistemd, 

Ein  aufgespanntes,  demutvolles  Ohr, 

Ihm  wiirde  leicht  ein  Wort  der  Wahrheit  kund, 

Die  durch  die  Wei  ten  geht  aus  Gottes  Munde  (IX,  25). 

As  Volkelt  says :  "Er  erblickt  das  Hochste  in  der  stillen  kampflosen 
Ordnung  des  Sternenhimmels;  er  mochte,  dass  sich  die  kleinen  und 
grossen  Geschicke  der  Menschen  nicht  durch  Verstand  und  Leiden- 
schaft,  Wollen  und  Wagen,  sondern  durch  leisen  und  unbewusst 
weisen  Naturtrieb  regeln.  Er  ist  wie  er  selbst  sagt,  eine  stille,  gem 
heimisch  in  sich  verweilende  Natur  (IX,  105)  und  misstraut  daher 
dem  Handeln  mit  seinen  unaufhaltsamen,  sich  weithin  erstreckenden 
und  dabei  sich  verunreinigenden  Wirkungen"  (see  74,  82,  107). a 
That  accounts  for  his  conservatism,  his  lack  of  sympathy  with  the 
new  spirit  of  the  times.  In  progress  he  sees  only  disrespect  for  old 
customs  and  traditions  (IX,  22). 

The  contrast  between  Rudolf  and  Ferdinand  is  very  noticeable. 

1  A.  Zipper,  Franz  Grillparzer  (Reclams  Universal-Bibliothek,  No.  4443,  Leipzig, 
oj.),  p.  89. 

2  Grillparzer  Jahrbuch,  IV,  19. 


68  grillparzer's  attitude  toward  romanticism 

Rudolf  is  passive  and  self-absorbed;  Ferdinand  is  active  and  fanatical. 
Rudolf  does  not  dare  to  make  a  move: 

Allein  wer  wagt's,  in  dieser  triiben  Zeit 

Den  vielverschlungnen  Knoten  der  Verwirrung 

Zu  losen  eines  Streichs  (IX,  27). 

Ferdinand  shows  his  ruthless  energy  in  driving  from  their  homes 
twenty  thousand  of  his  subjects  for  religion's  sake.  Rudolf  is  igno- 
rant of  the  plots  which  are  being  hatched  by  Klesel  and  the  archdukes, 
until  forced  to  believe  by  eye-witnesses  like  Herzog  Julius  and  Prokop. 
The  idea  of  taking  action,  even  when  his  throne  is  in  danger  is  distaste- 
ful to  him.  Were  it  possible,  he  would  shake  the  burden  of  govern- 
ment from  off  his  shoulders  (IX,  75)  and  retire,  as  his  uncle  Charles 
the  Fifth  did  on  one  occasion,  and  await  death  in  a  cloister  (IX,  108).1 
Peace  on  earth  is  his  most  ardent  wish,  a  wish  which  corresponds 
well  with  his  passive  nature.  Throughout  the  play  he  is  represented 
as  wavering  and  undecided,  dreamy  and  passive.  Even  when  Don 
Casar  is  bleeding  to  death  he  hesitates  and  refuses  to  interfere 
(IX,  102). 

In  many  respects  Rudolf  the  Second  is  the  counterpart  of  Grill- 
parzer  himself.  "  Seine  Natur  hatte  eben  so  viele  Analogien  mit  der 
seines  Helden,"  writes  Betty  Paoli:  "den  unwiderstehlichen  Hang  zu 
traumerischer  Contemplation,  den  idealen  Zug,  dem  alles  Vergang- 
liche  unwichtig  scheint,  die  Schwierigkeit  einen  Entschluss  zu  fassen, 
die  in  grosser  Zartheit  des  Gewissens  wie  in  einem  alle  moglichen 
Folgen  uberschauenden  Tief-  und  Fernblick  ihren  Grund  hat,  den 
oft  auftauchenden,  schmerzlichen  Zweifel  an  der  eigenen  Kraft,  den 
Widerwillen  gegen  alles  Gewaltsame,  und  zugleich  in  seltsamen 
Widerspruch  dam  it  gepaart,  eine  Heftigkeit,  die  bis  zur  Wildheit, 
eine  Strenge  die  bis  zur  unerbittlichen  Harte  gehen  konnte."2 

The  archduke  Matthias  betrays  the  same  passivity  which  has 
been  found  to  be  characteristic  of  Kaiser  Rudolf.  Neither  the  one 
nor  the  other  has  inherited  Tatkraft,  but  Matthias  does  not  recognize 
his  weakness  as  Rudolf  does.  Without  Klesel  to  spur  him  on,  he 
could  do  nothing.     In  action  he  is  vacillating  and  wavering : 

1  Cf.  also  "Klosterscene,"  Werke  (Sauer),  I,  200  f. 

2  Grillparzer  und  seine  Werke  (Stuttgart,  1875),  59»  0o- 


THE  CHARACTERS  69 

Das  ist  der  Fluch  von  unserm  edeln  Haus: 

Auf  halben  Wegen  und  zu  halber  That 

Mit  halben  Mitteln  zauderhaft  zu  streben  (IX,  49). 

These  words,  says  Scherer,  are  characteristic  in  the  mouth  of  him, 
"der  mit  unzulanglichen  Mitteln  immer  das  Allergrosste  will  und  aus 
einem  Extrem  ins  Andere  fallt,  aus  Uebermut  in  Verzweiflung."1 
After  the  emperor's  death  is  announced  and  he  is  hailed  as  his  succes- 
sor, he  feels  unable  to  face  the  duties  and  responsibilities  of  his  new 
office  and  longs  for  rest  and  quietness  (IX,  130).  His  dreams  of 
activity  and  lofty  ambition  have  vanished,  just  as  was  the  case  with 
Rustan: 

O  Bruder,  lebtest  du,  und  waV  ich  tot! 
Gekostet  nab'  ich,  was  mir  herrlich  schien, 
Und  das  Gebein  ist  mir  darob  vertrocknet, 
Entschwunden  jene  Traume  kunft'ger  Thaten, 
Machtlos  wie  du,  wank'  ich  der  Grube  zu  (IX,  131). 

Klesel,  in  short,  is  the  only  really  capable  man  of  action  in  the  whole 
play.  Wallenstein,  to  be  sure,  is  introduced  at  the  end,  but  is  not  of 
sufficient  importance  in  the  development  of  the  drama  to  be  considered. 
Ferdinand,  too,  shows  plenty  of  activity,  but  he  is  a  fanatic.  The 
favorite  types  are  passive  and  quietistic. 

Characteristic  of  romantic  personages  is  their  love  for  solitude  and 
retirement.  The  bustle  of  the  city  and  the  activities  of  ordinary 
life  are  not  congenial  to  the  free  development  of  the  individual. 
That  is  why  Libussa  is  opposed  to  the  building  of  a  city.  She  is 
afraid  that  if  men  are  surrounded  by  walls  they  will  no  longer  come 
into  contact  with  the  living  breath  of  nature  and  will  cease  to  feel 
their  unity  with  the  "  Geist  des  All "  (VIII,  202) .  Their  development 
is  liable  to  become  conventional;  like  the  brook  which  flows  into  .the 
stream,  they  lose  their  individuality.  Out  in  the  solitude  of  the  woods, 
however,  they  will  be  able  to  shake  off  the  unnatural  burden  imposed 
upon  them  by  society  and  can  realize  their  true  selves  in  a  passive 
and  contemplative  existence.  ~~"~*x 

Thus  the  praise  of  solitude  and  retirement  is  emphasized  in  all  j 
romantic  books.  Like  Grillparzer's  Rustan  or  Matthias,  the  roman-  / 
tic  character  is  continually  longing  for  Ruhe  and  Stille  during  his 

1  Fr.  Grillparzer,  Vortrage  und  Aufsdtze,  etc.,  291. 


70  grillparzer's  attitude  toward  romanticism 

aimless  wanderings.  So,  for  example,  Tieck  makes  William  Lovell 
say:  "Itzt  denke  ich  es  mir  so  erquickend,  in  einer  kleinen  Hiitte 
am  Saume  eines  einsamen  Waldes  zu  leben,  die  ganze  Welt  vergessend 
und  auf  ewig  von  ihr  vergessen,  nur  mit  der  Erde  bekannt,  so  weit 
mein  Auge  sieht,  von  keinem  Menschen  aufgefunden,  nur  vom 
Morgenwinde  und  dem  Sauseln  der  Gestrauche  begriisst — eine 
kleine  Heerde,  ein  kleines  Feld — was  braucht  der  Mensch  zu  seinem 
Gliicke  mehr?"1  Franz  Sternbald  expresses  the  same  wish  where 
he  says :  "  Freilich  ist  es  etwas  Schones,  ruhig  nur  sich  zu  leben,  und 
recht  friih  das  stille  Land  aufzusuchen,  wo  wir  einheimisch  seyn 
wollen."2  Holderin,  too,  praises  the  silence  of  starry  nights:  "Dann 
wann  es  stille  war,  wie  in  den  Tiefen  der  Erde,  wo  geheimnisvoll  das 
Gold  wachst,  dann  hob  das  schonere  Leben  meiner  Liebe  sich  an."3 

The  same  tone  prevails  all  through  Heinrich  von  Kleist's  Brief e 
an  seine  Braut.4  Kleist  knows  of  no  situation  so  calculated  to 
heighten  love  and  its  enjoyment  as  "ein  stilles  Landleben"  (p.  228). 
"Ach  Wilhelmine,  schenkte  mir  der  Himmel  ein  grimes  Haus,  ich 
gabe  alles  Reisen  und  alle  Wissenschait  und  alien  Ehrgeiz  auf  immer 
auf!  Denn  nichts  als  Schmerzen  gewahrt  mir  dieses  ewig  bewegte 
Herz,  das  wie  ein  Planet  unaufhorlich  in  seiner  Bahn  zur  Rechten 
und  zur  Linken  wankt,  und  von  ganzer  Seele  sehne  ich  mich,  wonach 
die  ganze  Schopfung  und  alle  immer  langsamer  und  langsamer  rol- 
lenden  Weltkorper  streben,  nach  Ruhe"  (p.  173).  The  ideal  of  "des 
Innern  stiller  Friede,',  so  prominent  in  Grillparzer's  characters,  is 
also  Kleist's  ideal.  He  is  not  willing  to  accept  an  office,  however 
dignified,  for  he  despises  the  happiness  which  fame  and  position  carry 
with  them:  "Aber  das  Entscheidenste  ist  dieses,  dass  selbst  ein  Amt, 
und  ware  es  eine  Ministerstelle,  mich  nicht  gliicklich  machen  kann. 
Mich  nicht,  Wilhelmine — denn  eines  ist  gewiss,  ich  bin  einmal  in 
meinem  Hause  gliicklich,  oder  niemals"  (p.  no). 

Novalis,  while  showing  considerable  interest  in  the  activities  of 
life,  was  also  filled  with  the  desire  to  retire  from  the  "  tummelvollen 

1  Tiecks  Schrijten,  VI,  167.  2  j^d.,  XVI,  59. 

3  Hyperion,  Holderlins  Gesammelte  Dichtungen,  herausgegeben  von  B.  Litzmann, 
(Stuttgart,  o.  J.;   Cotta),  II,  124. 

4  Heinrich  von  Kleist,  Brief e  an  seine  Braut,  herausgegeben  von  Karl  von  Bieder- 
mann  (Breslau,  1884). 


THE  CHARACTERS  7 1 

Schauplatz  dieser  Welt,  in  den  stillen  Frieden  des  hauslichen 
Lebens."1  "  Ruhe,"  he  tells  us  in  his  Journal,  "  ist  der  wahre  Zustand 
des  Menschen."2  External  circumstances  do  not  disturb  him  and 
those  like  him,  "deren  Welt  ihr  Gemuth,  deren  Thatigkeit  die 
Betrachtung,  deren  Leben  ein  leises  Bilden  ihrer  innern  Krafte  ist." 
Quietism  is  the  ideal  of  such  men.  "  Keine  Unruhe  treibt  sie  nach 
aussen.  Ein  stiller  Besitz  geniigt  ihnen,  und  das  unermassliche 
Schauspiel  ausser  ihnen  reizt  sie  nicht  darin  aufzutreten,  sondern 
kommt  ihnen  bedeutend  und  wunderbar  genug  vor,  um  seiner  Be- 
trachtung ihre  Musse  zu  widmen."3 

The  passive,  contemplative  life,  so  prominent  in  Grillparzer's  \ 
characters,  was  in  short  the  ideal  of  romanticism.  That  is  the  sort 
of  life  which  Friedrich  Schlegel  extols  in  his  Idylle  uber  den  Miissigang,  ■ 
when  he  says:  "  Je  gottlicher  ein  Mensch  oder  ein  Werk  der  Menschen 
ist,  je  ahnlicher  werden  sie  der  Pflanze.  Diese  ist  unter  alien  Formen 
der  Natur  die  sittlichste  und  die  schonste.  Und  so  ware  ja  das 
hochste,  vollendetste  Leben  nichts  als  ein  reines  Vegetiren.,,4  This 
ideal  Schlegel  finds  best  realized  in  oriental  life:  "Nur  Italiener 
wissen  zu  gehen  und  nur  die  im  Orient  verstehen  zu  liegen;  wo  hat 
sich  aber  der  Geist  zarter  und  slisser  gebildet  als  in  Indien  ?"s  Such 
a  passive,  plantlike  development  is  also  praised  as  the  highest  in 
Heinrich  von  Ofterdingen.  "Die  Gewachse  sind  die  unmittelbarste 
Sprache  des  Bodens;  jedes  neue  Blatt,  jede  sonderbare  Blume,  ist 
irgend  ein  Geheimnis,  das  sich  hervordrangt,  und  das,  weil  es  sich  vor 
Liebe  und  Lust  nicht  bewegen  und  nicht  zu  Worten  kommen  kann, 
eine  stumme,  ruhige  Pflanze  wird.  Findet  man  in  der  Einsamkeit 
eine  solche  Blume,  ist  es  da  nicht  als  ware  alles  umher  verklart,  und 
hielten  sich  die  kleinen  befiederten  Tone  am  liebsten  in  ihrer  Nahe 
auf.  Man  mochte  vor  Freude  weinen,  und  abgesondert  von  der  Welt 
nur  seine  Hande  und  Flisse  in  die  Erde  stecken,  um  Wurzeln  zu 

1  Erasmus  an  Fritz.  Fr.  von  Hardenberg,  Nachlese,  herausgegeben  von  einem 
Mitglied  der  Familie.  2.  Aufl.  (Gotha,  1883),  76;  cf.  also  Novalis  Briefwechsel, 
herausgegeben  von  J.  M.  Raich  (Mainz,  1880),  5,  12,  121,  134,  138. 

*  Novalis  Schriften  (Heilborn),  I,  294. 

3  Heinrich  von  Ofterdingen,  Novalis  Schriften,  I,  94. 

4  Lucinde  (Reclam  320,  Leipzig,  o.J.),  29. 
s  Ibid.,  28. 


72  grillparzer's  attitude  toward  romanticism 

treiben,  und  nie  diese  gliickliche  Nachbarschaft  zu  verlassen  "x 
Novalis,  indeed,  as  Brandes  has  pointed  out,2  goes  even  farther  than 
Schlegel  in  this  regard  and  would  crystallize  life  in  the  dead  forms  of 
mathematics.  "Das  hochste  Leben  ist  Mathematik.  Reine  Mathe- 
matik  ist  Religion.  Zur  Mathematik  gelangt  man  nur  durch  eine 
Theophanie.  Der  Mathematiker  weiss  alles.  Alle  Thatigkeit  hort 
auf,  wenn  das  Wissen  eintritt.  Der  Zustand  des  Wissens  ist  Euda- 
monie,  selige  Ruhe  der  Beschauung,  himmlischer  Quietismus."3 
The  study  of  Grillparzer's  life  reveals  the  fact  that  he,  too,  was  of 
a  retiring  disposition  and  preferred  to  be  alone  with  himself.  He 
possessed  many  of  the  same  qualities  as  his  brother  Karl,  whom  he 
describes  as  exhibiting,  from  youth  up,  "Spuren  eines  zuruckge- 
zogenen,  menschenscheuen  Charakters."4  Like  Sappho  he  longs 
to  recall  the  happy  days  "in  denen  er  in  den  Armen  der  Poesie 
schwelgte,  wo  er  sich  noch  erhaben  fiihlte  tiber  die  Welt  um  sich 
her.'*5  Discouraged  with  himself  and  with  the  conditions  prevailing 
in  his  native  country,  he  is  resolved,  like  the  romantic  wanderers,  to 
seek  solace  in  a  roving  life.  "  Hinaus  in  die  Welt,  in  anderen  Gegen- 
den,  von  anderen  Menschen  umgeben,  wird  vielleicht  mein  Geist 
wieder  die  gliickliche  Stimmung  gewinnen,  die  mir  die  Tage  meiner 
fruheren  Jugend  so  selig  verfliessen  machte,  vielleicht  dass  die  Alpen 
der  Schweiz  in  mir  jenen  Geist  wieder,  der  mit  vollen  Stromen  sich 
in  Blanka  von  Kastilien  ergoss,  und  der  jetzt,  von  der  Last  meiner 
Laune  niedergedruckt,  auch  nicht  den  kleinsten  Versuch  macht, 
sich  wieder  aufzurichten."6  In  all  the  European  countries,  however, 
he  finds  the  same  conditions  staring  him  in  the  face,  and  would  fain 
seek  rest  and  happiness  in  one  of  the  remote  South  Sea  islands :  "  Aber 
du  nimm  mich  auf,  seliges  Eiland,  das  nur  selten  des  Europaers  verpes- 
tender  Fuss  betritt,  an  dessen  Klippen  die  Gefahr  wacht  .... 
nimm  mich  auf  in  deinen  stillen  Schoss,  Otaheiti,  das  wie  ein  Feenland 
meiner  Phantasie  vorschwebt,  nach  dem  alle  meine  Wiinsche  fliegen, 

1  Novalis  Schrif ten,  I,  172,  173. 

2  Die  romantische  Schule  in  Deutschland,  211. 

3  Novalis  Schrif  ten,  II,  i,  223. 

♦  Glossy  und  Sauer,  Grillparzers  Brief e  und  Tagebucher,  I,  126  f. 
s  Ibid.,  II,  30;  cf.  Sappho,  IV,  152,  153. 
6  Ibid.,  II,  31. 


THE  CHARACTERS  73 

und  das  ich  mir  in  einsamen  Stunden  der  Melancholie  mit  so  reizenden 
Farben  male.  Gewahre  nur  eine  Hiitte  fiir  mich  und  Georg  und  ein 
Weib,  das,  auf  deinen  Fluren  geboren,  in  ihres  Gatten  Gluck  ihre 
Seeligkeit,  in  einem  Buschel  Federn  all'  ihre  Wunsche  erfiillt  findet. 
Gib  nur  wenige  Baume  in  deren  Schatten  ich  ruhen  kann,  deren 
Friichte  meine  einfache  Nahrung  sind,  und  ich  will  froh  die  Hande 
zum  Himmel  heben  und  rufen:  Ich  bin  glucklich!"1 

All  through  his  life,  in  fact,  Grillparzer  showed  a  decided  aversion 
for  society.  "Ich  bin  nur  ein  Mensch,  wenn  ich  allein  bin,"  he 
wrote  in  his  Journal  in  the  year  1831;  "die  Gesellschaft  findet  an 
mir  nur  zu  haufig  einen  Klotz."2  This  aversion  to  mixing  with  men 
stood  very  much  in  his  way  and  hindered  greatly  his  advancement. 
It  was  that  which  made  it  impossible  for  men  like  Graf  Stadion  to 
befriend  him.3  "  Bekanntschaf ten  wollte  ich  nicht  machen,"  he 
wrote  to  Kathi  Frohlich  from  Paris,4  and  in  another  letter,  written 
a  few  years  earlier,  he  states:  "  Die  Gesellschaft  gefiel  mir  nicht  ganz, 
aber  vielleicht  nur,  weil  mir  iiberhaupt  keine  Gesellschaft  gefallt."5 
That  is  the  tone  which  prevails  in  so  many  of  his  letters.6 

Grillparzer,  indeed,  had  quite  another  ideal.  Like  the  various 
characters,  just  described,  he  longed  for  rest  and  quietness.  Paris 
failed  to  interest  him.  "  Was  brauch'  ich  all  das  Zeug  zu  sehen  und 
zu  horen.  Werde  Wien  wieder  angenehm  fmden,  wo  ich  wenigstens 
allein  sein  kann."7  He  cannot  understand  why  he  took  such  a  trip. 
"  Was  war  ihr  Zweck  ?  Zu  sehen  ?  Ich  suche  Zerstreuung  ?  Zer- 
streut  ware  ich  wohl  genug.  Wenn  ihr  Zweck  aber  Sammlung, 
Fassung,  Ermutigung  gewesen  ware,  so  bin  ich  davon  so  weit  entfernt, 
als  da  ich  von  Hause  abging."8     "Orden  und  Prachtpokale,"  he 

1  Glossy  und  Sauer,  Briefe  und  Tagebiicher,  II,  32,  33. 

'Ibid.,  9$;  cf.  Steffens'  description  of  Novalis.  "Novalis  konnte  in  grosseren 
Gesellschaften  oder  in  Gegenwart  von  Fremden  lange  stillschweigen  in  Nachdenken 
versunken  dasitzen.  Ein  zartes  Gefuhl  schien  ihm  die  Gegenwart  verschlossener  und 
innerlich  entfremdeter  Naturen  zu  verrathen;  nur  wo  ihm  verwandte  Geister  ent- 
gegenkamen,  gab  er  sich  ganz  hin.  Dann  sprach  er  gem  und  ausfiihrlich  und  erschien 
im  hochsten  Grade  lehrhaft." — Nachlese,  262. 

3  A.  Sauer,  Grillparzer s  samtliche  Werke,  XIX,  112  f. 

4  Briefe  und  Tagebiicher,  I,  123.  5  Ibid.,  102. 

6  Ibid,  121,  122,  193,  201,  254,  etc. 

7  Samtliche  Werke,  XX,  64.  8  Ibid.,  75. 


74  grillparzer' s  attitude  toward  romanticism 


/i 


stated  in  a  letter  to  Archduke  Maximilian,  "  offentliche  AnerkenHung 
und  Belobung,  so  erhebend  sie  von  der  einen  Seite  sind,  haben  doch 
yon  der  anderen  etwas  der  nach  innen  gerichteten  Natur  des  Dichters 
Fernstehendes  und  Fremdes,  ja  Verwirrendes."1  The  plantlike 
development,  which  was  the  ideal  of  Friedrich  Schlegel  and  Novalis, 
:  was  also  the  ideal  which  he  gives  expression  to  in  the  poem,  Pflanzen- 
\  welt  (I,  174): 

Y  Das  Hochste  ist,  das  Hochste  bleibt 

Ein  einig  sichrer  Geist, 
Von  aussen  nicht, 
Von  innen  nicht, 
Durch  nichts  beengt,  was  Stoning  spricht, 
Und  Unterwerfung  heisst. 

Denn  wie  die  Pflanze  steht  er  da, 

Und  saugt  in  sich  den  Saft; 

Treibt  ihn  empor 

In  Halm  und  Rohr, 
Und  bringt  als  Blum'  und  Frucht  hervor 

Die  Sammlung  seiner  Kraft. 

/in  the  Kloster  bei  Sendomir  (XIII,  193  f.)  he  represents  Count  Star- 
y  schensky  as  finding  in  the  stillness  of  the  cloister  that  repose  of  soul 
which  a  life  full  of  vicissitudes  and  disappointments  has  denied  him.2 
The  Romantic  school  was  not  able  to  produce  a  great  drama 
/  because  Sehnsucht,  which  is  the  cardinal  feature  of  all  romantic  and 
[      quietistic  characters,  does  not  lend  itself  easily  to  dramatic  represen- 
ts^ tation.     Firmness  of  will  is  essential  to  the  really  tragic  character  and 
that  was  possessed  neither  by  Grillparzer  himself  nor  by  the  majority 
of  the  persons  whom  he  has  portrayed.     "Aus  dem  Quietismus," 
writes  Emil  Kuh,  "spriesst  keine  echte  Tragodie;    er  ist  das  Ziel, 

nicht  der  Ausgangspunkt  derselben So  wenig  Staaten  sich 

aufbauen,  wichtige  Unternehmungen  wachsen,  menschliche  Krafte 
uberhaupt  sich  entwickeln  konnen,  wenn  der  Wert  unseres  Strebens 
und  Thuns  an  sich  in  Frage  gestellt  wird,  so  wenig  kann  das  Spiel 

1  Brieje  und  Tagebiicher,  I,  167. 

2  Grillparzer  approved  the  plan  of  his  cousin,  Marie  Rizy,  to  retire  to  a  convent 
(cf.  the  poem  "Von  der  Nachfolge  Christi").  "Ihm  erschien  diese  Weltflucht  nicht 
als  eine  Askese.  Uebte  er  selber  doch  obwohl  mitten  im  Leben  stehend,  im  Grunde 
die  gleiche  Flucht  vom  Leben." — H.  Rau,  Grillparzer  und  sein  Liebesleben  (Berlin 
1904),  7i- 


THE  CHARACTERS  75 

der  Krafte  ein  Abbild  des  Lebens,  in  der  Tragodie,  voilstandig  sich 
entfalten,  wenn  der  Geist,  der  zum  Verzichten  antreibt,  der  Werk- 
meister  und  Bauherr  des  Dramas  ist.  Dies  jedoch  ist  er  bedingt  in 
dem  Drama  Grillparzers."1 

HI.      THE  COMMONPLACE  CHARACTER 

A  third  type  of  character  which  may  be  considered  as  an  outcome 
of  the  romantic  movement  is  the  commonplace  character  of  ordinary 
life.  Here,  too,  the  influence  of  romanticism  may  be  traced  to  some 
extent  in  Grillparzer's  persons. 

"Return  to  nature' '  was  the  watchword  of  Rousseau  and  the 
French  romanticists,  of  the  Storm  and  Stress,  and  of  the  English 
naturalistic  movement.  In  France  the  heroic,  conventional  charac- 
ters of  Corneille,  Racine,  and  Voltaire  were  superseded  by  the  more 
natural  types  of  Diderot,  Beaumarchais,  and  Victor  Hugo.  Count 
Almaviva,  in  Beaumarchais'  Barbier  de  Seville,  circumvents  old  Dr. 
Bartholo,  with  the  help  of  the  cunning  barber,  Figaro.  Again  in 
the  Manage  de  Figaro  the  barber  by  his  cleverness  manages  to  outwit 
the  count.  "What  is  nobility,"  he  says  in  a  monologue:  "Vous 
vous  Stes  donne  la  peine  de  naitre,  et  rien  de  plus;  du  reste,  homme 
assez  ordinaire."2  Victor  Hugo  finds  his  heroes  among  common- 
place characters  like  the  convict,  Jean  Valjean,  and  the  hunchback 
of  Notre  Dame.  The  same  development  may  be  observed  in  England 
in  the  characters  of  Richardson  and  Fielding,  and  later  in  those  of 
Wordsworth.  In  the  preface  to  the  Lyrical  Ballads  (1800)  Words- 
worth states  that  "  the  principal  object  proposed  in  these  Poems  was 
to  choose  incidents  and  situations  from  common  life,  and  to  relate 
or  describe  them,  throughout,  as  far  as  was  possible  in  a  selection  of 
language  really  used  by  men,  and  at  tho  same  time,  to  throw  over  them 
a  certain  coloring  of  imagination,  whereby  the  ordinary  things  should 
be  presented  to  the  mind  in  an  unusual  aspect."3  Wordsworth's 
favorite  types  are  the  simple  characters  of  ordinary  life — Ruth,  the 
Highland  Girl,  Michael,  Peter  Bell,  or  old  Simon  Lee.  The  same 
holds  true  of  the  works  of  the  German  Storm  and  Stress,  where  we 
find  characters  like  Wagner's  Kindermorderin,  or  Schiller's  Musikus 

1  Op.  cit.y  202.  a  Le  mariage  de  Figaro,  Act.  V,  sc.  iii. 

3  Wordsworth's  Prefaces  and  Essays  on  Poetry  (Boston:  Heath  &  Co.,  1892), 
3,4- 


76  grillparzer's  attitude  toward  romanticism 

Miller  and  his  daughter  Luise.  That,  too,  was  the  conception  of 
Novalis,  Friedrich  Schlegel,  and  the  German  romanticists.  "Die 
Welt  muss  romantisirt  werden,"  writes  Novalis,  and  adds:  "Indem 
ich  dem  Gemeinen  einen  hohen  Sinn,  dem  Gewohnlichen  ein  geheim- 
nisvolles  Ansehn,  dem  Bekannten  die  Wurde  des  Unbekannten,  dem 
Endlichen  einen  unendlichen  Schein  gebe,  so  romantisire  ich  es."1 
Friedrich  Schlegel  praises  the  qualities  of  simplicity  and  naturalness 
found  in  Goethe's  Wilhelm  Meister:  "Was  hier  vorgeht  und  was  hier 
gesprochen  wird,  ist  nicht  ausserordentlich,  und  die  Gestalten  welche 
zuerst  hervortreten,  sind  weder  gross  noch  wunderbar."2 

Several  of  Grillparzer's  persons  belong  to  the  commonplace  type 
praised  by  the  romanticists.  Leon,  the  hero  of  the  comedy,  Wek  dem, 
der  lilgty  is  a  character  chosen  from  the  lower  walks  of  life,  but  one 
who  by  his  cleverness  and  resource  puts  to  shame  the  noble-born 
Atalus,  who  is  helpless  in  the  situation  in  which  he  finds  himself. 
Bancbanus  is  also  a  very  ordinary,  pedantic  kind  of  man,  but  Grill- 
parzer  has  so  depicted  him  that  we  are  impressed  by  the  wonderfulness 
of  his  character.  The  pedantic  correctness  with  which  he  performs 
each  duty,  even  to  the  neglect  of  his  own  rights  as  a  man,  is  the  out- 
come of  a  faithfulness  deeply  rooted  in  his  nature — a  faithfulness 
which  raises  him  high  above  the  ordinary,  and  lends  that  dignity  and 
infinite  significance  to  the  commonplace  which  Novalis  has  charac- 
terized in  the  word  "romantisiren." 

Isaac  in  the  Jiidin  von  Toledo  is  also  a  commonplace  character, 
but  he  is  treated  from  the  realistic  rather  than  from  the  romantic 
point  of  view.  There  is  nothing  idealistic  in  his  nature;  his  gross, 
sordid,  materialistic  character  is  always  conspicuous.  Even  in  the 
presence  of  his  murdered  daughter  he  thinks  only  of  his  money-bags 
(IX,  2is). 

In  the  foregoing  study  it  has  been  shown  that  Grillparzer  prefers 
to  treat  in  his  dramas  characters  who  are  distinctly  romantic.  At 
another  time  I  shall  consider  some  of  the  problems  in  the  various 
plays  and  shall  try  to  show  that  in  them  also  Grillparzer's  leaning 
was  toward  romanticism. 

1  Novalis  Schriften,  II,  i,  304;  cf.  also  Klingsohr's  statement  with  regard  to  poetry: 
"Die  beste  Poesie  liegt  uns  ganz  nahe,  und  ein  gewohnlicher  Gegenstand  ist  nicht  selten 
ihr  liebster  StoS."—Samtliche  Werke  (Meissner),  II,  156. 

2  J.  Minor,  Fr.  Schlegels  Jugendschriften,  II,  165. 


OF   TH€ 

f    UNIVERSITY 

Of 


RETURN  TO  the  circulation  desk  of  any 

University  of  California  Library 

or  to  the 

NORTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 
Bldg.  400,  Richmond  Field  Station 
University  of  California 
Richmond,  CA  94804-4698 

ALL  BOOKS  MAY  BE  RECALLED  AFTER  7  DAYS 
2- month  loans  may  be  renewed  by  calling 

(510)642-6753 
1-year  loans  may  be  recharged  by  bringing  books 

to  NRLF 
Renewals    and    recharges    may    be    made    4    days 

prior  to  due  date 

DUE  AS  STAMPED  BELOW 

JUL  2^1996 


20,000  (4/94) 

V 


